Amy Cahill and the Years at Hogwarts
by Miranda Tam
Summary: On Amy's eleventh birthday, she receives a mysterious letter. At Hogwarts, in the Golden Trio's third year, she makes friends, builds confidence, and begins to discover some of the mysterious secrets of her forgotten past. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**First of all, I apologize for not doing the Grace Kabra-Cahill story first. While I have some of it planned out, the writing just isn't flowing for me, so I'm writing the story of Amy's years at Hogwarts first. Keep in mind that **_**all**_** characters from the 39 clues series will be slightly OOC, especially the kids, because they haven't had quite as much parental influence yet.**

**And so let a hopefully epic story begin!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plotline.**

"Happy Birthday, Amy!"

_Whuh?_

"Amy! It's your eleventh birthday! Wake up!"

"Dan, I'm still half asleep. Wait a second." Amy blinked a few times, picked up her glasses, and felt more awake. "Okay. I'm up. What now?"

"You got a little bit of mail, and some presents!" Dan replied.

"I'll check the mail first." As they went downstairs, Amy felt… different than usual. More alive. In the mail pile, nothing really stood out except one large letter with green writing. "Huh? What's this?"

"Open it! It looks mysterious!" Just then, the doorbell rang.

As Dan rushed to the door, Amy turned over the letter. It said,

_Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry_.

"Hello," said the person who had come in the door. "My name is Minerva McGonagall."

As Amy walked through the brick wall, she was glad that the Professor had told her about it. She would have never looked there. By the time she got onto the train, after loading her light bags, there was only one compartment that had a space, and it had some third-years and a sleeping teacher in it. "Um, h-h-hi, c-c-an I-I sit h-here?" she trembled.

One of them, a girl with bushy, brown hair, recognized her dilemma instantly. "Of course, Ron can move over and you can sit next to me."

"Hey, why do I have to move?" grinned an overenthusiastic redhead. "Why can't Harry and you switch?"

The girl chose not to respond, instead pointed her wand at him.

"Moving!" he quickly said, switching to the other seat.

The girl lowered her wand. "You can sit next to me. What's your name?"

"A-amy C-cahill." She stuttered.

"Hi, Amy. My name's Hermione Granger. The idiot over there is Ron Weasley, and he's Harry Potter."

Amy gasped. "I-I'm not magical, but I've read about you! You defeated You-Know-Who when you were a baby, but your p-parents d-died…" she trailed off.

Hermione noticed the stutter coming back when she talked about Harry's parents, making her wonder what had happened to Amy's own parents.

"So, you're muggleborn, but you read all of the books? Sounds like 'Mione here. She also read all of the books before–" Hermione had hexed Ron silent.

This use of magic made Amy look at her own wand, stuck in her right pocket. It was 12.5 inches, rosewood with a surprising core – Felix Felicis. Good for healing. "Y-you read a-all of your b-books, too?"

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Yeah. The Hat wanted to put me in Ravenclaw."

"The H-hat?"

"Oh, that's right. The books don't talk about that. Since you're a first year, you'll be Sorted into your house before you eat. You put on a hat, and it decides which house you belong in."

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Three Galleons says it's Malfoy." Harry said glumly.

"No bet."

The door slid open, and in came a familiar-looking boy. He had cinnamon-colored skin and immaculate jet-black hair. A pale, blond boy stood behind him.

The blonde spoke. "Allow me to introduce Ian Kabra." He smirked.

Ron stood up. "Get lost." He glared at Ian. "You too."

Ian raised an eyebrow, peering into the compartment behind Ron. "Cahill? You're here, too?"

Amy gathered her courage. She'd met Ian at some family gatherings at Grace's house, and he was very stuck-up. "G-go a-away."

"Cahill?" Malfoy suddenly seemed interested in her. "Aren't your parents–"

"Langlock." Malfoy's tongue glued itself to the roof of his mouth.

The Golden Trio turned to Amy as a silent Malfoy dragged Ian away, closing the compartment.

"Where'd you learn that?" Ron demanded.

Amy blushed. "Well, all the spells that I've seen seemed to be based in Latin, so I just–"

"Figured it out!" Hermione gasped, her eyes shining. "That's brilliant!"

The professor in the corner shifted and yawned.

"Professor?" Harry asked. "Are you awake?"

The professor sat up, yawning. "Yes. Are we at Hogwarts yet?"

"No."

"Ah, well then. If you don't mind, who are you?" He surveyed them, stopping at Harry's scar. "Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded glumly. "Yeah."

He nodded, moving on quickly. "You look like your father. And the rest of you?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley."

"A-amy C-cahill."

His eyes locked on her. "Cahill?"

She nodded, confused. "Wh-why?"

"Is Grace your grandmother?"

She stared at him, shocked. "Do you know her?"

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. "She's… an old friend of mine."

Harry shivered. "Is it just me, or is it getting colder?"

Ice began creeping up the windows, and the train shuddered to a halt.

"Wh-what's th-that?" Amy trembled. "It's so c-cold."

"Dementors." Professor Lupin drew his wand. "Keep back."

The four students gathered behind him as he stepped towards the door. Amy felt a coldness creep into her heart, into her soul, as the door slid open to reveal a cloaked figure… someone was screaming… there was fire… fire… and she was falling down, down, down…

"Uhh." Amy moaned. "Wha'?" she blinked and sat up. They were still on the train, in the compartment, and professor Lupin was sitting next to her.

"Here… have some chocolate." He spoke gently. "It will help."

She gratefully accepted the chocolate and ate the whole bar. "What w-were those… d-d-Dementors? Why d-did we pass out?"

"The guards of Azkaban, the wizarding prison." He explained. "Recently, a mass-murderer has escaped, for the first time in history. They were sent out to catch him."

"W-why did we f-faint?"

"Not 'we.'" He shook his head. "You and Harry. Is there anything that you have in common?"

Amy shivered; the compartment suddenly seemed colder. "M-my parents d-died when I was seven." She whispered. "I d-don't remember them v-very much."

He frowned. "That's odd. Did you hear anything when you passed out?"

"Fire." Amy's voice was barely audible. "They died in a fire."

"Bond, James!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Cahill, Amy!"

Amy walked up to the stool nervously and placed the hat on her head.

_Well,_ it seemed to speak in her head. _Another Cahill. I Sorted your parents, you know._

My parents were magical? She thought.

_Yes. Beatrice is a squib._

Oh! That makes sense! But why did the house burn down, then?

_You'll find out in due time. Now, let's see… plenty of brains, but you're not exactly a Ravenclaw type. No ambition. You're nice and loyal, but you're equally brave and just._

Me? Brave? That's a laugh.

_You'd be surprised. You're equal in both houses. Do you have a preference?_

Amy hesitated. Gryffindor, with my friends, please.

_All right. _"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted out to the school.

Amy scampered down to the red-and-gold table and sat next to Hermione, across from Harry. As she watched, she saw six other people that she recognized from the family reunions. Ian Kabra immediately became a Slytherin, as did Jonah Wizard. Ted, Ned, and Sinead Starling became Ravenclaws, and Hamilton Holt joined her in Gryffindor.

Hamilton sat down next to Harry. "Hello." He said, not at all shy. "You're Amy Cahill, right? From that lady's family reunions?"

Amy nodded. "Y-yes."

Hamilton looked at the others. "Hi. I'm Hamilton Holt."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gaped at him, taking in his size. He was almost as big as some of the fourth years. Ron recovered first. "Ron Weasley. Say, were you always that big? Ow!" Hermione had whapped his head.

"Sorry about that idiot. I'm Hermione Granger."

The first-year grinned. "That's okay. Most of my family are worse. The Hat's probably going to put my sisters here just because they're too stupid to be anywhere else."

Before Harry introduced himself, the food appeared. Amy gasped. "How did it do that? Where did it come from?"

Hamilton stared at her. "Don't you know? I thought that your parents told you."

Amy tried to glare at him, but failed. "I-idiot." She turned to the food, ignoring his protests, and realized that a small note had appeared on her plate.

_Miss Cahill,_

_Please see me in my office after dinner. The password is 'Licorice Wand."_

_-Albus Dumbledore_

She looked around the hall and realized that Hamilton, Ian, Jonah, and the Starlings had received similar notes.

She shrugged and began eating.

"Licorice Wand." As the gargoyles creaked open, Ian Kabra walked up.

"Hello," He spoke. "You were sorted into Gryffindor."

"A-and you're in S-slytherin."

Ian nodded. "By far the best house. I saw you talking with a Mudblood and a Blood Traitor."

"A wh-what and a wh-what?"

Ian sighed. "Muggleborn and a pureblood who associates with the wrong type of people."

"What t-type of p-people?"

Ian shrugged. "Mudbloods and muggles. They're so inferior–"

"Langlock."

Ian glared at her and gestured to his mouth.

"I-I'm not u-undoing it until y-you apologize."

He glared at her and gestured to his mouth.

"Finite Incantatem."

"Filthy mudbloods–"

"Langlock."

They walked up the staircase to professor Dumbledore's office, Ian glaring at Amy and Amy trying to ignore him.

"P-professor Dumbledore?" she called, and knocked on his door, which swung open.

As Amy walked in, she couldn't help staring around at everything. There were moving portraits all around, and many silver spinning instruments. The thing that caught her eye the most, however, was a beautiful red, orange, and gold bird. "Wow," she whispered. "Are you a phoenix?"

The phoenix flew from his perch and landed on her shoulder.

She hesitantly reached up to pet it, relaxing as he started to sing.

"Miss Cahill?" Amy jumped. She had forgotten that Professor Dumbledore was in the office. He chuckled. "May I introduce you to Fawkes?"

"Hello, Fawkes," she murmured. "You're beautiful."

Ian tapped her on the shoulder.

"Fine." She glared at him. "Don't insult my friends again. Finite Incantatem." In the back of her mind, she noticed that she didn't stutter while Fawkes was with her.

"Miss Cahill?" she had again forgotten the headmaster,

"Yes, headmaster?"

"Do you mind telling me where you learned that spell?" His eyes twinkled.

"I – I realized that spells were based in Latin, so I looked at the Latin roots and conjugated them, and I hope that it wasn't against the rules, sir." She said very quickly.

Before he could reply, a commotion was heard downstairs.

"But, yo–"

"Imbecile–"

"Shut up–"

Dumbledore sighed. "It appears that the others have arrived." He waved his wand, and soon five people marched in, glaring at each other. "Now that everyone is here, I assume that you know the reason that I have invited you all here." Everyone except Amy nodded.

"What reason?" she asked. "I mean, I think that we're all related…"

Professor Dumbledore sighed. "I would have thought that your parents might have explained it to you." he sounded disappointed. "All right. As you know, you are a Cahill. What you don't know is that the Cahills are a very important chapter in the history of the world, both Muggle and Wizard. There are five branches–"

"Four," Sinead interrupted him. "There are only four."

Dumbledore inclined his head. "If I may continue, there are five branches. Ekaterina, Tomas, Lucian, Janus, and Madrigal."

The last one drew a shuddering breath from everyone in the room. "But they're evil!" Hamilton burst out. "And they're not even a real branch."

The headmaster shrugged. "The Madrigals are shrouded in mystery. Nobody knows who they are, or what they do. Therefore, there is not much that I can say about them. Now, I will tell you about the other branches. Each branch has a special… talent, I believe, is the best way to put it. The Tomas," he nodded to Hamilton. "Are famed for their strength and battle skills. The Ekaterina, or Ekats," he gestured towards the triplets. "Are scientific geniuses. They invented many things. The Janus are the creative geniuses."

"That's me, yo!" Jonah grinned.

"And, last but not least, are the Lucians. They are well known for their strategies, cunning, and ruthlessness."

"That would be me." Now Amy heard the sly, calculating undertone to Ian's voice, as if he were evaluating her and finding her weaknesses.

She glared at him, encouraged by Fawkes. He glared back, and they engaged in a fierce mental battle. The room filled with tension, as the other children watched in awe. Not many people could stand up to a Kabra.

"Ahem," Dumbledore interrupted them both, causing them to look away at the same time. "To get to know each other better, I recommend that we say our name, branch, wand wood, and wand core."

The seven Cahills stared at him, wondering if he would really force them to introduce themselves.

Hamilton finally stepped forward. "My name is Hamilton Holt. I'm a Tomas." He glared at the Starlings. "My wand is Ironwood with the heartstring of a Norwegian Ridgeback." He glared at Sinead, daring her to go next.

She stepped up. "I'm Sinead Starling, Ekat. Willow with Siren hair."

Her brothers went next. "Hi." They said in unison. "Ted and Ned Starling, also Ekats. Willow with powdered dragon scale."

"Yo. I'm, like–"

"Please cut the 'yo's.'" Ian interrupted. "We can hardly understand you."

Jonah scowled. "Uh, okay. I'm Jonah Wizard. Janus, totally. Oak with a Roc feather."

Ian was the last before Amy. "Hello. I am Ian Kabra. I am a Lucian. Obviously. My wand is Yew with crushed basilisk eggshell."

Now all eyes were on Amy. "M-my name is Amy Cahill. I d-don't know my branch. My wand is r-rosewood with a core of Felix Felicis."

"You have _liquid luck_ as your wand core?" Sinead asked disbelievingly. "I thought that it was impossible to have a potion as your wand core."

"It is rare, but not impossible." Dumbledore commented thoughtfully. "Those who have them are extraordinarily gifted." There was another brief pause as everyone stared at Amy. "Now, back to the reason why you are all here. I would like to meet with you all every week, but so as to avoid problems, I will meet with everyone on a separate day. These meetings will be included in your schedules, and they will be different for every one of you. You will get your schedules tomorrow, at breakfast. It is late, and you all should be getting to sleep." As they all moved towards the door, Dumbledore called out to Amy. "Miss Cahill, if you would remain behind a moment."

"Yes, professor?" Amy walked back to his desk. "What is it?"

Her eyes met his suddenly serious ones. "There are dangers in this world that you are not aware of, and cannot fight. Many things have been hidden from you; I seek to rectify this problem." He smiled, catching her off-guard. "Watch for the hidden enemy. Your first lesson will be tomorrow. Now, however, you should head back to your dormitory. I believe that curfew is in a few minutes, so you might want to hurry."

Amy gasped and nodded, realizing how late it was. She raced out of Professor Dumbledore's office, getting to Gryffindor Tower with a minute to spare, when she realized that she didn't know the password. "Er…" she timidly asked the Fat Lady. "C-can you tell me the p-password?"

The Fat Lady sighed and shook her head. "No, I'm not allowed, even though you're clearly a Gryffindor. You can wait until someone comes out, or until a teacher comes by."

Amy sighed and sat down. "Can you go inside the common room and get someone?"

"No, there aren't any pictures in there that I can go to. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's not your fault. Do you know if there are any teachers nearby?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, Professor McGonagall is down that hallway and coming towards us. She should be here soon."

Amy stood up and heard light footsteps, but they didn't sound quite like footsteps…

A cat walked into the light, eyes glowing with the reflected fire of the torch. Amy sighed and sat down. "I don't suppose that you know where Professor McGonagall is?" she asked the cat, not expecting it to respond.

Instead of walking away, however, the cat began to transform into a human.

Amy clambered up again and gasped. "P-professor! Y-you're an Animagus!"

Professor McGonagall, who was now fully human, smiled her thin smile. "Yes I am, Miss Cahill. Now, why are you sitting outside the entry to the common room after curfew?"

"I'm s-sorry. Professor Dumbledore c-called me up to his o-office, and I d-don't know the p-password."

"It's all right, Miss Cahill. You won't be getting detention. This has happened to many students, and I suspect that it will happen again. The password is Mandragora."

"Th-thank you, professor." Amy stumbled as the portrait hole swung open. "G-good night."

"So, what did Dumbledore want to talk to you about?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to Amy.

Amy shrugged, not wanting to reveal what Dumbledore had said, about the Cahill family. She was still taking it in. The most powerful family in history? Branches?

"Amy? Amy? Amy!"

Amy blinked. Hermione was waving her hand in her face, trying to wake her up. "Sorry, I zoned off a bit."

"It's okay." Hermione grinned. "It happens to everyone. Anyway, you seem nice. Do you want to study together tomorrow?"

"Sure." Amy smiled back. "That sounds nice."

"Double DADA with Slytherin, potions with Slytherin, free period, Charms with Ravenclaw, lunch, Transfiguration with Slytherin, ending with History of Magic with Hufflepuff." Hamilton read off his schedule. "You too?"

"Y-yeah, almost the same." I have a meeting with Dumbledore from eight to nine, she added silently.

"Okay. Class starts in five minutes."

Amy and Hamilton got to the DADA classroom just in time. The bell rang as they sat down, and Professor Lupin started his lesson.

"As you may know, I'm Professor Lupin." He smiled at the Gryffindors, ignoring the sneers of the Slytherin half. "Welcome to your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. This first class is going to be fairly… unorthodox. After a quick introduction, I'm going to be doing the same for every year up to fifth: Boggarts. Now, does anyone know what Boggarts are?"

Amy's hand shot up. "Boggarts are a magical creature that takes on the form of your worst fear," she tried to remember. "I think that to defeat them, you have to think of your fear in a ridiculous manner and say Ridikulus."

Professor Lupin smiled. "Exactly. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, since you haven't preformed any magic before, not counting accidental magic, think of a simple harmless spell. You could have heard of it at home, or read it in a textbook. If you can't think of anything, look through your book until you find one. Does everyone have a harmless spell in mind?"

The class nodded.

"All right. On the count of three, perform the spell. One, Two, Three!"

There was a call of Expelliarmus as the first spell was cast. Suddenly, everybody called out different spells, most of which had no affect. Amy saw Ian point his wand at a Gryffindor, one of Amy's dorm-mates. "Wingardium–"

"Langlock!" Ian suddenly found his tongue yet again glued to the roof of his mouth.

Correctly guessing who had cast it, he glared in Amy's direction.

She did her best to look innocent, but utterly failed and broke down in giggles. Hamilton also saw Ian and, guessing what Amy had done, also began laughing.

"All right," Professor Lupin called out, quieting the class. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Ian, still glaring at Amy, raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Kabra?"

Ian pointed to his mouth, causing the entire class to realize what had happened and burst into laughter. Even the Slytherins seemed to think that it was funny.

Professor Lupin hid a smile of his own. "Who cast the spell?"

Amy, suddenly timid, raised her hand.

"Miss Cahill, what spell did you use?"

"L-langlock, sir." Amy stuttered.

A few Slytherins snickered at her stumble, but, remembering what she had done to Ian, they quickly quieted.

"Ah, I see." The Professor smiled encouragingly. "Do you know the counterspell?"

Amy nodded. "Finite Incantatem." She cast, ungluing Ian's tongue.

"Amazing. Ten points to Gryffindor for good spell-work." Amy smiled back at him. "Now. On to Boggarts. As Miss Cahill pointed out earlier, Boggarts take the form of whatever you fear the most. You may not know what it is, or it may be a combination of things. To defeat it, think of your fear in a ridiculous manner and say Ridukulus. Repeat after me: Ridikulus."

"Ridikulus." The class obediently repeated.

"Very good. Now, if you find that you panic, or can't think of your fear in a funny way, simply step aside and let the next person take your place." The professor raised his wand, muttering something, and a large shaking cupboard floated into the room. It landed on the floor in front of the class, still banging loudly. "Now, everybody form a line. Push the desks aside." There was a large screeching noise as everyone pushed the chairs and tables to the edges of the room. Amy somehow got shoved near the front of the line, right in front of Hamilton.

The first boy was a young Gryffindor. He stepped up as Professor Lupin unlocked the cupboard, and a strange whirling… _thing_ flew out. It quickly solidified into a small swarm of angry hornets.

"Ridikulus!"

The hornets turned into Honey and began eating each other as the class burst into laughter.

As the next student stepped forward, Amy began to think about what her worst fear would be. Dan dead? On fire? That was probably it. How could it be funny? Um… Dan would jump up and peel the fake wounds off, pretending to be a ninja, Amy decided. It was so… so _Dan_.

Before she knew it, it was her turn. As she expected, a dead Dan flew out of the closet, covered in wounds and shrouded in flames. Amy still had to consciously remind herself that Dan was alive, Dan was alive. She opened her mouth to say the spell when a second figure stepped out of the cupboard. She was a woman, with cinnamon skin and honey-colored eyes. Something about her… scared Amy. Very deeply, as if she had some bad memories of her, but she couldn't remember ever seeing her before. Something stirred in her, a long-lost memory. The scary woman smirked and spoke quietly. "You're so weak, you can barely speak in front of people, you don't deserve to live. Die, just like your parents did…"

Amy stumbled back, only half-conscious of someone leading her away from the boggart, out into the hallway. _Wet grass against her legs… smoke in the air… people screaming…_ Where did that come from? She thought.

As she calmed down, she looked up to see the one person in the world that she least expected. "What d-do you w-want, Ian?" she tried to snap.

"I have a few questions for you." he stared at her, blocking the doorway back to the class.

"Th-then ask."

"It's about your Boggart. About the shape that it took."

"Wh-what do you w-want to know? I c-can't promise I'll answer t-truthfully."

Ian shrugged. "All right. It's only one question." His amber eyes seemed to pierce her. "Why did your boggart look like my mother?"


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter answers some questions that I've had since I first started reading the Harry Potter series, so hopefully it'll be nice for someone to actually ask them for once.**

**I know that some of you are (or will be) wondering why Amy's so perfect at magic. Well, there's an explanation that will be revealed later.**

**And I'm updating the prologue, because I realized that 'Uncle James' would have already been dead when Amy was seven.**

**Oops.**

**Once again, I do not own anything except the plotline, and maybe an OC or two.**

Amy had avoided Ian's question and darted back into the classroom in time to see professor Lupin end the lesson and dismiss them to potions.

In the dungeons, she sat down next to one of the girls in her dorm, Ivy Smith. The potions master, Professor Snape, surveyed them distastefully. "You are here to learn the subtle art and excellent science of potion making," he began, softly but clearly. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He surveyed them distastefully. "Let us begin."

The class attempted to make a simple boil-curing potion, and Amy's didn't go correctly, but it didn't go horribly wrong. After class, Amy stayed back a few minutes. "P-professor?"

Professor Snape looked up from some essays that he was grading. "What is it?" he asked irritably.

"I-I was j-just wondering, h-how are potions magic?" At his disbelieving look, she hastily corrected herself. "I m-mean, does our m-magic go into the potions, w-without a wand, or can m-muggles make potions, too? Or is the magic already in the ingredients, and a witch or wizard somehow needs to activate it?" she grew more confident as she spoke.

He still stared at her, seemingly disbelieving.

"If… if they're dumb questions, I-I could ask s-some older students…" she trailed off, seeing him shake his head.

"No, it is just… in all my years at Hogwarts, I have heard nobody ask the questions that you have. The Headmaster could answer the questions better than I could. He simply… has a better way of explaining. When you see him tonight – yes, I know of the Cahill family – give him this." Professor Snape took out a parchment and quill and wrote a short note to Professor Dumbledore, folding it and tapping it once with his wand before handing it to her.

She put it in her pocket, walking out the door. "Thank you, professor," she called back, much less timid than she had been at the end of the lesson.

When she was out the door, she didn't hear him murmur, "Five points to Gryffindor for actually thinking."

Charms passed quickly, as did Transfiguration, where she was awarded five house points for being able to transform her matchstick into a needle. Only Ian Kabra was able to do the same, though Hamilton's got all pointy. History of Magic was extremely boring, and it was all Amy could do not to fall asleep. Since she hadn't been given any homework, she studied potions and figured out what had gone wrong in her potion. By that time, it was dinner, and after that she was off to see Dumbledore.

"Hello, Professor." She smiled as she stepped into his office.

"Hello, Miss Cahill." His eyes twinkled back at her. "How was your first day?"

"It was amazing. I liked DADA, except for…" she trailed off.

"Is the Boggart bothering you?" he said gently after a few minutes.

She nodded. "It… it was Dan, my brother. He was dead. That part I expected, even though it scared me for a minute. But then… this woman came out. I don't recognize her, but she seemed… familiar, somehow. And she scared me. She talked about my parents, and… and Ian said that she was his mother, but I've never met his mother!"

Dumbledore sighed. "Miss Cahill, I'm afraid that even I don't have all the information yet. I will explain everything to you when I can."

Amy took a deep breath. "All right. Moving on. Potions." Amy allowed a brief smile. "I like potions. Professor Snape told me to give you this." She fished the note out of her robe pocket and handed it to Dumbledore. "What does it say?"

The Headmaster opened it up and read it through. When he looked up at the end, his smile was radiant. "It seems that Professor Snape thinks that you are 'not the average dunderheaded Gryffindor' and that he wishes that 'you had left the hex on the insufferable Kabra boy, and possibly cast it on Draco Malfoy as well.' He also recommends that I teach you Occlumency."

"Occlumency?" Amy gasped. "Shielding your mind? Isn't that really advanced?"

"Yes, but he and I both feel confident that you can manage it."

"That's… quite a compliment."

"Especially coming from Professor Snape."

"Did he mention my other questions?"

"The ones about potions and magic? Yes, he did. All plants have innate magical properties, and being touched by a witch or a wizard brings out those properties. Magic is also added to potions as they are being made. For example, a muggle or squib could make a potion using ingredients that a magical person had simply touched, but it would not be at full strength."

"Oh. Thank you, professor."

"Now, Miss Cahill… I will be tutoring you on Defense Against the Dark Arts among other things, but Professor Snape has requested that he teach you Advanced Potions and Occlumency. You won't start Advanced Potions until after winter break…"

"… So that I have a secure grounding in ordinary potions first?" Amy asked.

"Precisely. You will, however, begin Occlumency lessons starting on Wednesdays, at the same time that we are meeting at now. Do you have any other questions about magic, magical objects, or the Cahills?"

"Yes, sir. What branch am I?"

He sighed. "Alas, that is one question that I cannot answer at the moment."

"What… what were those things on the train? The Dementors? How can I fight them?" Amy shivered at the very thought of them.

Dumbledore beamed. "Ah, yes. A perfect question. The Dementors guard Azkaban, the wizard prison. They create feelings of sadness and despair. They, in a sense, feed on souls. If a convict has committed a horrible crime, yet not one worthy of a death sentence, the Dementors can suck that person's soul out. The person is left a shell, breathing and living, but no longer truly alive. It is called the Dementor's Kiss."

Amy shuddered. "That sounds horrible. Sir, who is Sirius Black? I heard some teachers whispering about him."

"Sirius Black is an escaped prisoner of Azkaban. He is the first one to be able to escape. Miss Cahill, do you know what the Fidelius Charm is?"

"I… think so. It hides a house or place except from people who know where it is, and only one person can take new people there." Amy said unsurely.

"Yes. That person is called a Secret-Keeper. Sirius Black was the Potters' best friend and Secret-Keeper. On October 31st, twelve years ago, he betrayed Lily and James Potter to Voldemort."

Amy gasped. "Why did he do that? At the trial, did he say whether he did it willingly or not? It doesn't seem like something a best friend would do."

The headmaster shifted uncomfortably. "Well, the evidence was overwhelming. He never got a trial." As Amy began protesting, he raised his hand to stop her. "After the attack on Harry, Sirius went to Peter Pettigrew, another friend of his. Peter, the brave soul, confronted Sirius about how he had betrayed the Potters. Sirius blew up half the street, killing Peter and twelve muggles. When the Aurors came to get him, he was just standing there, laughing madly."

Amy frowned. Something about the story just didn't fit. "Who were his other friends?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled. "They were in a group of four. James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin." His eyes twinkled. "I believe that you are acquainted with the last?"

"Remus Lupin… our Defense professor?"

"The one and only. I believe that they called themselves the Marauders."

A few months later, Amy was sitting in the common room, practicing Occlumency. Professor Snape said that she was coming along 'adequately.' Coming from him, this was high praise. She had also managed to lose most of her stutter, and had become tighter with the Golden Trio.

"… I wonder why Professor Lupin's worst fear is an orb…"

Amy sat bolt upright as she heard the snippet of conversation. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were having a quiet discussion by the fire, with Amy sitting near them, occasionally offering input. She had almost dozed off when Hermione had spoken. "What did you say it was?"

The three turned to her. "Once in our class, Professor Lupin stepped in front of the boggart. It turned into this white orb. Why?" Harry asked.

"No reason. What moon cycle is tonight?"

Ron regarded her with confusion, as did Harry. Hermione gasped. "Full. Do you think…?"

Amy shrugged. "I'll know whether or not in class tomorrow."

"Know what?" Ron demanded.

"We'll tell you when we know." Hermione responded.

Amy yawned. "I'm going to bed. I just wish we could check where he is now…"

The Golden Trio turned to each other. "Shall we tell her?" asked Harry.

"She can be trusted. Let's show her." Hermione decided.

Harry brought out a piece of parchment from his pocket. "Swear not to tell any teachers?"

"I swear, unless it's harmful or dangerous."

"Okay. I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." Harry tapped the parchment with his wand, and spidery designs spiraled out, inky lines connecting to form a map of Hogwarts. "The Marauder's Map."

"Marauders…" Amy murmured. "Messers Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs." She looked up from the map. "The Marauders were your father's school group. Professor Lupin was one of them. Moony…" she opened the map, ignoring the stares of the others. "It shows people? Real-time?"

"Yeah… Blimey, Harry, your dad was a Marauder…" Ron stared at Harry in amazement.

"Lupin's still in his office… Snape's going there. Wolfsbane potion? Let's go, we need to talk to…" Amy trailed off as she happened to glance up to the boy's dormitory. "Hermione, I need to go up to the boy's dormitory. Now."

"Why?"

"Because Peter Pettigrew is in there."

"What's the petrification spell?"

"Petrificus Totalus."

"Thanks. We need to hurry." Amy walked up the stairs as quietly as she could, standing outside the door to the third-year boy's dormitory. She glanced at the map to verify the supposedly dead man's position, then flung the door open, shouting, "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell hit Ron's rat, Scabbers. "Caught you, Wormtail." She murmured, picking up the petrified Rat. Running back downstairs, she grabbed the Marauder's Map.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, trying to keep up.

"To Professor Lupin's." she replied briskly. "We need to hurry."

The four raced to the Professor's office, finally managing to catch him as he left his office. "Harry? Ron? Hermione? Amy? What are you four doing here?" he asked, glancing around worriedly. "I really can't talk right now–"

"It's all right if you've had your potion, right?" Hermione interrupted him. Harry and Ron stared at her as if she were crazy.

He stared at them, bewildered. "How did you find out?"

"That's not important right now." Amy replied, digging in her pocket. "Our question is do you recognize this rat?" she pulled Scabbers out, keeping a tight grip in case the petrification wore off.

Professor Lupin openly gaped, now staring at the rat. "Peter…"

"Professor, I think that Sirius Black is innocent." Amy continued, unusually confident. "If this _is_ Wormtail, then–"

"You know about the Marauders?" now Professor Lupin interrupted her. "How?"

Harry wordlessly showed the map, now understanding what Amy meant. "We need to talk to Dumbledore, now. We just needed to confirm with you."

"I'll need to come. Dumbledore doesn't know that they became Animagi." He took Scabbers – Peter, Amy corrected herself – from Amy and led them to the Headmaster's office. "Licorice Wands." He enunciated clearly.

As the staircase creaked upwards, Wormtail suddenly began struggling violently. When the door to Professor Dumbledore's office opened, they rushed in, not wanting him to accidentally escape.  
"Remus?" the headmaster asked in surprise. "Mister Potter? Mister Weasley? Miss Granger? Miss Cahill?" _Why am I not surprised to find you four?_

Amy started in surprise as she suddenly had a thought that wasn't her own. She had read that in some cases, when learning Occlumency, people began exhibiting signs of Legilimency. She hadn't expected it to happen to _her_.

"We've found Peter Pettigrew," Professor Lupin spoke up, brining Amy out of her reverie. "Sirius Black is innocent."

"Peter Pettigrew?" Dumbledore's eyes sharpened. "He's an Animagus?"

"All three of the others were," the DADA professor explained. "Animagi Revelio."

Ron's Rat glowed a sickly brown color for a few seconds, then turned back to his normal color.

"Homenum Animagus."

Now Wormtail began to twist and turn, slowly growing human features and getting bigger and bigger. Professor Lupin placed him in the middle of the office as he fully changed into a human. He looked terrified, and scurried from side to side, as if still a rat. "R-remus!" he squeaked. "M-my old f-friend? H-how are y-you?" he turned around, still scurrying. "A-and D-dumbledore! I-I…" he trailed off, looking nervous.

"Wow, he's worse than Amy was," Ron muttered to Harry.

"_Nobody's_ worse than Amy was." Harry mumbled back, earning him a thwack in the head from said girl.

The commotion, however, brought Wormtail's attention around again, now focusing on Ron. "M-my m-master! S-such a kind o-owner!"

"It says something about a person's personality if they're better as a rat than as a human," Amy said quietly to Harry.

"A-and H-harry!" Peter seemed to get more nervous with each passing second. "J-ames and L-lily's s-son! Y-your f-father–"

"Was betrayed." Professor Lupin interrupted. "By you, Peter. Now I see that Sirius was too obvious, a decoy. _You _were the Secret-Keeper, and _you_ let You-Know-Who in."

"I-I d-didn't! I-I… h-he m-made m-me!" Peter squealed.

"Well, Peter, there is one way to prove that." Professor Dumbledore's voice was quiet. "Accio Veritaserum." A small clear bottle zoomed into his hand.

Wormtail was now panicking. "I-I-I… n-no! Th-that's i-illegal!"

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Amy raised their eyebrows at the irony, but Dumledore and Remus nodded. "Yes, it is. I suppose that I shall call the Aurors, and make sure that _they_ hold you, and not Minister Fudge."

Peter squeaked, panicking and turning back into a rat.

"Stupefy." Dumbledore's eyes were sad. "I'll call Kingsley and tell them that they're chasing the wrong man." He picked up the now-unconscious Peter-rat and walked over to the fireplace, dropping some floo powder and shouting, "Auror Headquarters!"

As he vanished into the green fire, Professor Lupin gave a violent jerk. He doubled over, his back contorting. "Full… moon…" he gasped, clearly in pain. "Not… safe…" As fur started sprouting from his skin, his face elongated, transforming into a snout. As his arms and legs shifted, he let out a long howl, incapable of human speech. He fell to all fours, a tail bursting from his end. The last things to change were his eyes, transforming from a soft blue to a luminescent yellow.

The transformation was complete.

The werewolf growled, slowly walking towards them.

"Stay back," Hermione whispered. "The potion might be overpowered by the smell of human."

"And what if he pounces?" Ron snapped quietly. "Then what?"

Amy sighed. "Honestly, I'm surrounded by idiots. No offense," she added quietly. "What was that spell professor Dumbledore used? Oh, right. Stupefy." A jet of red light shot out of her wand as the werewolf jumped forward. The four scattered, and he plowed into the wall behind them, unconscious. "I can't believe that actually worked," she whispered.

"I can," Harry commented. As the other three stared at him, he shrugged. "What? Amy has been able to do every spell that she thinks up on her first or second try. She even figured out that Langlock spell. Something's… different about her."

"Very astute," drawled a voice from the wall. "In fact, you might even be worthy of the dunderhead award, not having figured that out weeks ago."

Amy jumped. She'd thought that the portraits were asleep. "Who are you?"

"Phineas Nigellus, an ancestor of the Mr. Black that you were just defending," he said, rolling his eyes. "Both I and Mr. Black are distant relatives of Miss Cahill, slightly closer to Mr. Kabra and a few select others."

"Oh, come on, _everyone_ knows that!" complained a silky voice from the wall.

"Hush! They heard us, you idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot. _He_ is!"

"I'm not, yo! I'm smarter than mister _Dolt_ here, yo!"

"I'm not a Dolt! I'm smarter than you."

"And here I was, hoping that you six would be quiet." Phineas interrupted. "If you may insult each other later?"

There was a muttering from the corner, then the other six Cahills were visible.

Amy rubbed her forehead. "How long have you been following us?" she asked tiredly.

"Well," Hamilton began. "I overheard you in the common room. I followed you, and the triplets were camped outside the portrait hole, disillusioned. They'd apparently figured everything out already, so we all followed you. I have no clue where Jonah and Ian came from, but Sinead disillusioned us all and we followed you in here and hear the whole thing."

"You can do disillusionments?" Hermione asked incredulously. "In first year?"

Amy exchanged a glance with the other first-years. "We're all sort of… exceptional," she said hesitantly. "Maybe Dumbledore can explain it."

Just then, the fireplace flashed green again, and the headmaster came out, dusting off his fingers. He blinked, finding twice the amount of people he had expected. "Oh, my. It appears that I had forgotten about Professor Lupin." He said softly. "If you will all wait a moment?"

Ian opened his mouth to protest, but Amy raised an eyebrow at him, and he shut his mouth, scowling at her.

Professor Dumbledore levitated the unconscious werewolf, walking out of the room, towards the hospital wing. As he left, silence fell. After a few seconds, Amy felt something probe her mind. She slammed her shields into place, looking for the source of the foreign presence. Her eyes landed on Ian, who was barely keeping a shocked expression off of his face. Remembering the feeling of his probe, she attempted to probe back.

Suddenly, she could read his surface thoughts, the same way that she knew he could read hers.

_So, Snape's teaching you Legilimency._

_Only Occlumency, actually, the rest comes naturally. Who did you bully into teaching you? Surely no amount of money could make up for the problems._

_There are no problems._

_Yes there are._

_What?_

_You. So who taught it to you?_

_Mother._

_The Dragon Lady?_

Amy got the impression of Ian smothering his laughter.

_Snake Lady, actually. Dragons are Ekats._

_Either way, she's creepy._

_You've never met her._

_I must have sometime in my life. You remember the boggart._

Their mental conversation was abruptly cut short by Professor Dumbledore returning. He surveyed the two carefully, somehow seeming to know about their talk. Turning back to the others, he raised an eyebrow. "And why might you be here?"

"Um…" Hamilton started. "Well, I saw them walking out the portrait hole, and I followed them. The triplets were also outside the portrait hole, Sinead did the disillusionments. Ian and Jonah caught up somewhere along the way."

"And why," Dumbledore continued, "did you take it upon yourselves to follow them?"

"Um, we were worried about them?" Hamilton answered.

Ian raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, _I _was worried about them. The others were curious," He elaborated.

"I will accept that, for now." Dumbledore's eyes met each of theirs, letting them know that their motives would be questioned in their next meeting. "Now, it is late. You should all get back to your dormitories. Miss Cahill, if you will remain behind? Mister Kabra, if you will do the same?"

"We'll wait for you." Hermione whispered to her as the others left.

"Thanks," Amy murmured back.

Once everyone except the two students and Professor Dumbledore had left, the headmaster focused on them. "Mister Kabra, Miss Cahill. When did you learn Legilimency?"

Amy answered first. "Just now. I realized that I read one of your thoughts, that you weren't surprised that it was us four. Then, after you left, Kabra tried to read my mind. I blocked him, then tried to copy his probe."

"Ah." Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "And Mr. Kabra?"

Ian shrugged. "I learned Occlumency, then I figured out Legilimency the same way that Cahill did."

"He means that the Snake Lady taught him both," Amy supplied helpfully. As he glared at her, she looked back at him innocently. "What? Legilimens can learn to detect lies. Professor Dumbledore probably knew that you were lying."

"In light of this discovery," Dumbledore intervened, "Mr. Kabra will be joining you with Professor Snape on Wednesday. Only for Occlumency and Legilimency, though." He added.

"He's going to join your lessons?" Ron exclaimed. "But he's a prat! And a Slytherin!"

Amy sighed again. It was the next evening, and she had explained to the rest of the Golden Quartet about her lessons, though not the reason for them. "Yes, he is. I have no say in it. He is a prat, and he is a Slytherin. I don't see why you have such a big problem with Slytherins in the first place!"

The redhead gaped at her. "Amy, they're _Slytherins_. They're _evil!_"

The first year rolled her eyes. "Professor Snape's not evil."

"Yes he is!"

"No, he's not."

"He is!"

"He's not."

"Is!"

"Not."

"Is!"

"Not."

"Will you two please stop arguing like children!" Hermione finally exploded. "It's almost Christmas, and that means mid-term exams!"

Amy instantly looked guilty. "Sorry, Hermione. I forgot."

The third-year sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just so… snappish lately. Divination is complete rubbish, and Arithmancy is also difficult. On top of that, my parents want me to come home for winter break. They have something that they want to talk to me about."

Ron groaned and put his head in his hands. "Exams! I'd nearly forgotten!"

"Well, then, start studying."

Amy gritted her teeth as she stood outside the potions classroom. It was Wednesday night, and she was there for her first Legilimency lesson. With Ian Kabra.

She already sensed her arch-nemesis in the room, along with Professor Snape. Over the past few days, she had experimented with the 'probe,' as she'd dubbed it. Amy had found that if she cast her mind out, she could use a sort of echolocation to sense certain mental presences. Every person was individual and distinct. Especially Ian Kabra.

Amy took a deep breath and entered the classroom. Professor Snape looked at her with a penetrating gaze, as if knowing that she had paused before entering. Ian paid no attention whatsoever to her, pretending that she wasn't there.

After a few minutes of silence, Professor Snape stood from behind his desk. "Mr. Kabra, Miss Cahill. I am aware that you both know Legilimency. To what extent? And, Mr. Kabra," he added, seeing Ian about to open his mouth. "I will know if you lie."

Ian glared at him, probably rephrasing his words. "I can read unshielded minds, and communicate with other Legilimens. I can also sense where people are. I've been learning how to do it subtley."

"And?" Professor Snape prompted.

Ian rolled his eyes. "I can 'bump' a person's memory, burying it."

The potions master nodded. "And you, Miss Cahill?"

Amy glanced at Ian. "I can communicate with other Legilimens, I haven't tried reading anyone's mind yet. I can also sense where other people are."

"I see. Today, or rather tonight, I will test your skill and strength."

"Before we begin, Professor," Amy asked hesitantly. "I have another question about wizards."

Professor Snape smirked amusedly. "Another? Do ask."

"Do wizards have religions?"

"I was wondering when you would ask that." His smirk grew. "Most wizards worship gods of the Greco-Roman Parthenon, which are, in fact, real. Every so often, gods or goddesses will choose a mortal to be their chosen, and imbibe them with skills and strength. Families often worship the same god or goddess. I worship Nyx, goddess of night. As you may have guessed, Mr. Potter is Chosen by Zeus."

Amy turned to Ian questioningly.

"'The Kabra family bows down to no one,'" Ian recited. "'There is no god or goddess deserving of our worship.'" He snorted. "Complete and utter rubbish. I worship Hekate."

"Goddess of Magic," Amy murmured. Turning back to Snape, she put on a bright smile. "So who does Moldyshorts worship?"

Professor Snape flinched as Ian snickered. "Like much of the Kabra family, the Dark Lord worships no one."

Amy nodded. "Thanks. That clears a lot of stuff up. Now, about Legilimency…"

On Sunday, the early-morning risers of Hogwarts witnessed an enraged Hermione Granger storming into the Great Hall, clutching the Sunday Prophet. As her yawning house-mates joined her, she shoved the newspaper in Harry's face.

"Whazzat, 'ermione?" Harry mumbled, still half asleep.

Amy, taking pity on the third year, nimbly plucked the paper out of his face, spreading it out on the table so that everyone awake could read it. "_Sirius Black Innocent!_ I don't get it, 'Mione. What's wrong?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Read the article. For one, it puts all the blame on Dumbledore, and barely any on Fudge. For another, Sirius is receiving the Ministry's apology… and nothing else. No job reinstatement, no monetary compensation. And lastly, they're forcing him to spend _six months_ in St. Mungo's to make sure that he's not insane."

Harry finally woke up. "_Six months?_ Isn't he only supposed to be in there for three?"

Hermione nodded worriedly. "I think that someone in the ministry is trying to keep Sirius away from Harry."

"But why?" Amy asked worriedly. "Does he know something about You-Know-Who, or…" she trailed off, thinking about what Phineas Nigellus had said in the headmaster's office a week ago.

"Or what he said in the headmaster's office a week ago?" Hermione suggested.

Amy glared at her friend. Hermione had known that she was desperately steering away from that topic. "I need to talk to him about that. I'll tell you next Monday, after I've had a chance to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

Hermione shook her head. "No, winter break will have started already. How about when we get back?"

Amy sighed and nodded. "Where're Hamilton and Ron?"

"Stumbling around the common room, trying to find the portrait hole, no doubt."

"More like stumbling around the Great Hall, trying to find the food," Harry noted, gesturing towards the two burly Gryffindors.

Ron finally plopped down next to Amy, Hamilton sitting on her other side. "Food," he croaked. "Need…"

Once Ron and Hamilton were awake, Ron pulled out a letter from his parents. "Mum's calling a Weasley Clan meeting over winter break – Weasleys only," he said, glancing dejectedly at Harry. "She has something 'important' that she wants to talk about."

"Don't worry," Amy assured Harry. "Hamilton and I will be staying here, I think." She glanced to the other first year for confirmation.

He nodded. "Yeah, Dad and Mom already have their hands full trying to keep the twins from killing each other, so I'm staying."

"Thanks, guys," Harry sighed. He hastened to reassure his other two friends that his feelings weren't hurt, and that he would be fine, but the girls saw that he moped around for the rest of the day.

As Amy was doing her Occlumency exercises that night, she heard the other girls in her year come into the dormitory. Their whispered gossip steadily grew louder, and bits and pieces started to drift across the room.

"… thinks she's so smart…"

"… keeps hanging out with third years…"

"… acts like she's better than us…"

Amy began to grow annoyed, though she didn't show it on her face. Who were they talking about?

"Hush! Check if she's asleep." Someone cautiously peeked into Amy's bed.

"She's asleep!" a closer voice called to the others.

Amy realized with a jolt that they were talking about _her._

As the night wore on, the whispers and insults grew worse, criticizing everything from her hair to her parents. Finally, around midnight, they went to bed. Amy stayed awake, tossing and turning, the insults whispering in her head. Were Harry, Ron, and Hermione only talking to her out of pity? Was she really that much of a know-it-all? She drifted in and out of consciousness, fully waking around five in the morning.

Knowing that she was awake for good, she got up and dressed, taking a short shower. Walking down to the common room, she was surprised to find Hermione already awake, studying.

Amy froze and backed up, remembering the whispers of last night, but Hermione had already spotted her and waved her over.

"Hi, Amy!" Hermione said cheerfully. "I didn't know that you were up."

Amy shrugged, keeping quiet.

The older girl's cheerful attitude dissipated. "Is anything wrong?"

"N-no." Amy didn't meet Hermione's eyes.

Hermione studied her. "I thought that you got rid of your stutter months ago. And you don't look like you've slept well."

"I-I'm fine. Y-you don't n-need to w-worry about m-me."

"Amy, look at me." Amy raised red-tinged green eyes to meet Hermione's chocolate brown. "Have the other girls been gossiping about you?"

Unable to speak, Amy nodded. Now Hermione would laugh at her silliness, or declare that she didn't want to be her friend anymore, or–

Amy's thoughts were cut off by Hermione grabbing her tight in a hug. "Don't let them get to you," Hermione whispered in her ear. "We're your friends. Friends don't hurt other friends."

The younger girl sniffled and nodded. "Okay. S-sorry."

"There's nothing you need to be sorry for," Hermione said fiercely. "It's your year-mates' fault."

Amy gave a watery smile. "Yeah, but some of it's _true_. I'm a stuck-up know-it-all, and I can't help shoving my knowledge in other people's faces…" Amy trailed off as she saw the mirthful expression on Hermione's face.

"I'm sorry, they're really not all that funny," Hermione explained. "But in first year, and still sometimes, that's what people call _me!_" and Hermione dissolved in a fit of giggles, and Amy couldn't help but laugh along.

Hermione stared out the window of the train as it pulled away from the station. Over break, she would miss all of her friends, especially Amy. The two girls had really bonded earlier that morning, when Hermione had reassured her of their friendship. Still, something had always seemed different about Amy, more different even than Hamilton. It was as if she already knew the spells, but didn't know that she knew them, and they'd just needed a little refresher. Amy's spellwork had seemed just a little _too_ perfect, her Latin guesses just a little _too_ accurate.

However, all that was driven out of her mind when three first year Ravenclaws entered her compartment. She glanced over and saw that it was the three triplets, Ted, Ned, and Sinead. _What kinds of names are those?_ She mentally asked herself. "Hello, and since you so kindly asked, those seats are not taken." Hermione was feeling a bit annoyed.

Sinead, who was apparently the leader, rolled her eyes. "You're most welcome. Anyway, we need to talk to you. Your parents have asked us to," the first year added.

Hermione was instantly attentive. "I don't understand what's so important that you three have to talk to me about it before even my parents."

Sinead shrugged. "They just asked me to brief you."

"Let's get this straight, because I'm tired of going in circles. Is this something about the little group that Amy and Hamilton are part of?"

Sinead raised an eyebrow. "Sort of. Have you ever heard of the Cahills?"

Hermione frowned in confusion. "Aside from Amy Cahill, no."

"That's what we expected. In reality, it's a little more complicated than that…"

The atmosphere in the Weasley compartment was unusually serious.

Fifteen minutes out of the station, Ron finally brought it up. "Why're you so serious?" he asked the twins. "What's up?"

"Yeah," Ginny added. "Is anything wrong?"

The twins glanced at Percy, who nodded and shut his book. Ron gaped at Ginny, and Ginny gaped back. The twins _never_ asked Percy for permission, and Percy _never_ shut his book to listen to the twins.

"Okay," Percy exhaled. "I'm going to teach you a little bit of family history. And don't you dare tune me out," he said menacingly to Ron and Ginny. "A long time ago, back in the early 1500s, There was a couple named Gideon and Olivia Cahill. They had four children: Luke, Katherine, or Kate, Jane, and Thomas. They each had a special talent: Luke was a cunning strategist. Kate" he said the name with distaste "Was a scientist. She invented stuff. Jane was an artist and a musician. And Thomas was a strong warrior. Gideon was an alchemist, like Nicholas Flamel. But he wasn't looking for a way to make a sorcerer's stone – he was looking for something else. Some say he found it, some say he didn't. But in 1507, the Cahill house was destroyed by a fire. Gideon ran back into the house to save his life's work. He never came back out." The compartment was quiet for a moment. "But all over the world, there were hidden 39 clues, ingredients to whatever he discovered. Ever since then, the four different branches of the family have been fighting and trying to find the clues."

"Wait a minute." Ginny interrupted. "Branches?"

Percy nodded. "There are four branches. Lucian, Ekaterina, Janus, and Tomas. Ever since then, there have been bitter rivalries between all of the branches, though the Ekaterina and Tomas really, _really_ hate each other. Each branch also has a leader, in charge of everything that branch does. They're all egotistical maniacs."

"I think I see where this is going. We're part of this family?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, sister dearest," George sang out. "We are Tomas."

"Not that we actually follow our branch leader."

"Quite the opposite, actually."

"We're more rebellious Tomas."

"We still hate the other branches, of course."

Ron blinked, still processing everything. "But that means… Amy's a Cahill. But she doesn't really fit any of the branches."

"There are always misfits," Percy said, shrugging.

"Like Perce, here."

"He's just sore because he can't hit things very well," the twins stage-whispered.

"Anyway," Ginny interrupted again. "Do we need to watch out for other Cahills?"

All three older students nodded. "Make friends and stuff, but watch your back. Lucians and Janus are especially nasty. Strangely, it's the Ekats who actually give us a chance to explain that we're not part of the hunt."

"So why are you telling us all of this now?" Ron asked.

The twins exchanged glances again. "Percy left something out," Fred explained. "There's another group."

"They're shrouded in mystery." George continued.

"There's only two things known about them."

"Three!"

"Three?"

"Yeah. They're ruthless. They're bloodthirsty. And they're called the Madrigals."

"That's the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard," Hermione told the Starlings flat-out. "Give me some evidence."

Sinead gave her an annoyed look. "Do you know any truth spells?"

"Veritas revelio."

Sinead immediately got a blank look across her face.

"Have you told me the truth about the Cahill family?"

"Yes." Sinead's eyes cleared. "Good spell. Where'd you get it?"

"I took a page from Amy's book and looked up the Latin, then checked it with Professor Flitwick. It's medium strength, good for one question."

"Amy's smart," Ted remarked off-hand. "Do you know what branch she is?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I found out about the family ten minutes ago." She focused on Sinead again. "Which branches should I watch out for?"

"Frankly? Everyone." Sinead shrugged. "Mainly Tomas. We Ekats have a huge rivalry going on with them. Of course, Lucians are always the worst to run into. Think cat and mouse."

"Wouldn't the Janus do that too?"

Sinead shook her head dismissively. "No, they'll trap you then run away, giving you time to escape. Most Lucians are seriously sadistic. Remember, cat and mouse."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "What if the mouse has rabies?"

**Yay! Second chapter!**

**And Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I apologize for not posting in a while. School has just started, and my muse seems to be on vacation; therefore, this chapter is shorter than the others. However, it has a few major plot point revelations continued and is very important.**

**Another thing: I have received two fairly nasty reviews from an anonymous reviewer calling themselves SNAP DRAGON. As a review reply, I would like to say to them that none of your claims are valid. THERE IS A REASON THAT SPELLS ARE SO EASY FOR AMY. I am trying (and probably failing) to make her less of a Mary Sue, and keep in mind that not all flaws are revealed in a classroom. As to your other claims, you start out your reviews by saying that you haven't actually read my story, thereby negating any recommendations that you have. I see no reason why Amy can't be friends with Harry, Hermione and Ron. Amy, in my eyes, is not a 'boring character' and HP is not, and I quote, 'infanitly superior' to the 39 clues. I say again, THERE IS A REASON THAT AMY CAN DO THE SPELLS. If you want to continue this discussion, please make an actual account so I don't have to post ridiculously long AN's replying to you.**

"Presents! Presents presents presents presents presents presents presents presents presents presents presents presents!"

Amy blearily opened her eyes. What was going on? Oh, right. It was Christmas. The other girls in her dorm were jumping up and down on their beds. She absentmindedly wondered if she had gotten something, then reflexively pushed the possibility out of her mind. The only person who had given her any presents was Grace, and as far as Amy knew, Grace didn't have an owl. She grinned as she thought of the presents that she'd sent out. Amy had gotten Dan a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. She'd gotten Harry a book about different seeker tactics, and Ron one about chess strategies. Hermione had received a copy of _Pride and Prejudice_. She had been a little stumped at what to get Hamilton, but she finally decided on getting him a book about how to use martial arts in a wizard's duel. Grace had been the hardest; Amy had finally decided to give her a transfigured Christmas ornament in the shape of a book. Its three small pages had pictures of Amy and her new friends at Hogwarts. Though only palm-sized, they had lots of detail, and Professor McGonagall had given her fifteen house points for the perfect transfiguration.

Suddenly, there were two loud thumps, one distinctly louder than the other, right outside the dormitory. Amy rushed outside to see Harry and Hamilton at the foot of the slide that had used to be the stairs. She giggled and slid down, almost crashing into the two boys.

Hamilton quickly scrambled up, giving one loud shout of "Presents!" before running over to the fireplace to get his stocking.

Amy and Harry laughed and followed him at a slower pace. "We should be lucky that Ron isn't here," Harry joked. "He gets even more excited."

"More?" Amy kidded back. "Impossible."

"And yet somehow, he manages it." The two friends smiled at each other, then went to open their own presents.

The first present that Amy opened was a lumpy brown package. She ripped off the paper to find a hand-knitted jade-green sweater with a red-brown 'A' on it.

"You've gotten a Weasley jumper!" Harry grinned at her. "Mrs. Weasley makes one for everyone every year. All family and family friends get them." He pulled out an emerald-green sweater with a snitch in the center.

Amy pulled on the sweater and immediately felt warmed. "This is amazing. Are there warming charms on it?"

Harry nodded. "I think so. What else did you get?"

"Let's see…" Amy tore the paper off her other gifts, often stopping to admire them. "Hermione's gotten me a homework planner, Ron's gotten me a Chudley Cannons poster, Ham gave me a book about dueling, my brother Dan sent me his dead spider collection so that I can freak out Ron, and Grace sent me this." Amy held up a small, leather-bound book. "I haven't opened it yet."

"Well, let's see," Harry suggested.

Amy opened to the first page and gasped. It was a wizard photo of her parents, laughing and smiling, two-year-old Amy sitting on her mother's lap. Amy quickly flipped through the album, finding it half-full. It started when Amy was two or three, and slowly progressed, with the last picture being the fire. Most of the pictures were of people laughing or smiling, but a few were different. One was a picture of Amy and her mother lying on the floor, doodling in Hope's sketchbook. Another was of her and Dan playing tag in the backyard.

"Amy?" Harry's voice jolted her out of a daze. "What's wrong?"

"My parents…" she whispered. "Dan and I only have one photo of them. Why didn't Grace ever show these to us?"

"Amy…"

The first-year sniffled and tried to give a little smile. "Sorry, Harry. I just…"

"Are overwhelmed?" Harry suggested. "I know how you feel. Hagrid gave me an album of _my_ parents in my first year. Now open the rest of your presents."

Amy took a deep breath. "Okay. Thank you for the Chocolate Frogs, Harry." She flashed him a smile, trying to put the album behind her. "These two…" Amy carefully opened the slightly larger one. It wasn't any bigger than her hand. Under the paper, there was a small box, clearly meant to keep something fragile safe. And inside was a small bottle of a bright golden liquid.

"What's that?" Harry asked in a hushed tone.

Amy picked up a small card that had fallen out of the box. "It's Felix Felicis," she replied in the same whisper. "My wand's core, otherwise known as Liquid Luck. It's really, _really_ hard to brew. One swallow ensures that for one day, all of your ventures will succeed."

"Who's it from?"

"It must be from Professor Snape," she said in shock, only just remembering to keep her voice low. "I… Oh, no! I didn't get anything for him!"

"I think that it'll be fine," Harry reassured. "He probably knew that you wouldn't expect anything from him."

Amy nodded, still staring at the small bottle. "Okay. Can you hand me that last one? It looks like it's just a card."

Harry dutifully handed over the envelope, grinning as if he knew what was inside it.

Amy carefully opened it, pulling out a card that read in bright red letters, 'Season's Greetings!' "It's from Sirius Black!" Amy exclaimed.

_Dear Amy Cahill,_

_Hey! Thanks for catching Wormy and getting me out of Azkaban. It was getting sorta boring there. Anyway, I'd like for you and Harry to come over to St. Mungo's to visit me! I know that you have some other friends, but I'm only allowed one or two visitors at a time. If Moony isn't too busy dealing with a certain furry little problem of his, he'll be able to escort you, or whatever._

_See ya,_

_Padfoot (Sirius who-hates-the-Blacks)_

"Did he also send you a letter?" she asked Harry.

"Yeah." Harry replied. "Professor Lupin said that we can visit him the day before classes start."

**Page Break!**

Hermione Granger was _furious_. Not only did her parents keep her Cahill heritage a secret, _and_ hide the fact that they knew about the wizarding world and were, in fact, squibs, but now they wanted her to spy on her best friend.

"No!" she shouted. "That's ridiculous! Amy is my _friend!_ I wouldn't do that!"

Jean Granger wore a tired expression on her face. "Hermione, dear, while it may look like a conundrum to you, we don't really have any choice. The Ekat leadership approached me a few weeks ago, and they said that you were going to do it one way or another."

"What does that mean? One way or another?" Hermione glared at her mother.

"What it means is that either you go along with their plans or they put you under the imperious curse." Hermione's mother sighed. "Honey, believe me, I don't want this to happen either."

"Well, you have a funny way of showing that!" Hermione glared at her mother one last time, then ran up to her room.

A minute later, David Granger came into the room, followed by Yasmeen Badawi. "Where did Hermione go?" He asked his wife.

Jean sighed. "Up to her room. She's probably trying to run away."

_BOOM!_

A large explosion shook the house.

"And those would be the wards that I put up to prevent that," Yasmeen said. "You do realize how important this is to the hunt, right?"

David nodded and sighed. "Yes, but years ago, our family dropped out of the hunt."

"And now you're dropping back in. Simple as that."

Hermione stormed down the stairs, her hair more frizzy than usual and slightly singed. Seeing Yasmeen, she gave her parents a death glare. "I'm not doing it and you can't make me."

"Actually," Yasmeen corrected, taking out her wand, "I can."

Hermione's mind suddenly went into overdrive. If she agreed… and then told Amy… then she wouldn't be spying on Amy… and maybe she could even feed them false information…

"Fine." Hermione said. "I'll watch Amy."

"Good." Yasmeen smiled brilliantly, then began muttering some charms. "These are so that we can keep an eye on you," She explained. "And so that we can hear what you're saying." She smirked. "And so that you can't tell anyone." With a quiet pop, she disapparated away, leaving a shocked, furious, and upset Hermione.

**Page Break!**

Severus Snape cursed Gideon Cahill for inventing the Master Serum. He cursed Luke, Thomas, Katherine, and Jane for keeping the ridiculous feud going. Most of all, he cursed the Headmaster, for giving him the task of identifying _every Cahill in the entire bloody school_. Why him?

Severus shook his head and began with the Slytherins. Casting a Lineage spell on each name, he heaved a sigh. Nobody had known the exact percentage of Cahills attending the school, but based on his house, he estimated between seventy five and ninety percent. Three quarters of the Slytherins had Lucian blood, including Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. One twelfth were of Janus descent, including Blaise Zabini.

He went over the other houses, finding Ekats and Janus in Ravenclaw and only two Cahills – a Janus and… someone from _that_ branch – in Hufflepuff. Gryffindor had by far the most, with only twenty students _not_ of Cahill ancestry. Granted, more than half of the confirmed Gryffindor Cahills were muggleborns and therefore unaware of their heritage, but Severus figured that with the Heirs for all of the branches in the school, the numbers of active Cahills would rise.

He walked over to the fireplace and tossed a bit of floo powder in, murmuring "Headmaster's Office." As he stepped through the green flames.

Dumbledore looked up from a pile of papers as Severus entered. "Ah, Severus." He said quietly. "Have you finished?"

He nodded curtly. "Yes, headmaster."

"And the results?"

Severus winced. "Between seventy five and ninety percent, leaning towards the high end."

The headmaster's eyes widened. "That many. I must admit, while this presents certain problems, it also makes things much easier."

The potions master nodded. "The only problem will be the Snakes. There is a surprising amount of inter-house unity if you discount my house."

"Unfortunately." Dumbledore sighed. "The Slytherins have always valued their aloofness. Have you any clue how to remedy the situation?"

Severus shook his head. "Not at the moment. I have also discovered another… ah… _interesting_ conundrum. You are aware that Miss Cahill and Potter are friends with Granger and Weasley?"

"I am aware," Dumbledore murmured. "They are Cahills?"

He nodded. "All of the Weasleys are members of a clan of Tomas who have, for lack of a better term, rebelled against the Tomas leader. They are not aware of the objectives of the Madrigals, though they know of their reputation." He frowned in displeasure. "Had Arthur been the same age as Potter, Black, and Lupin, he might have joined their little group of misfits." Severus shook his head to clear thoughts of the past from it. "Granger is an Ekat. She does not appear to be aware of her heritage, though that may change by the end of the holiday. Her parents are squibs."

"And you expect her to spy, against her will, on Miss Cahill?"

Severus once again nodded. "The Ekaterina branch will have decreased in effectiveness if they do not at least attempt to recruit her. I will, of course, be checking all members of my own house for spy charms. I recommend that Minerva and Filius do the same."

"Not Pomona?"

"There is only one Cahill – a Janus by the name of Zacharias Smith – in Hufflepuff, aside from the Madrigal."

"Ah, yes. Well, Severus, I trust your judgement. I will pass on the messages to Filius and Minerva."

"Thank you, Headmaster." Severus stepped into the fireplace, flooing back to his quarters. It was Wednesday, and he had a private meeting with Amy Cahill.

**Page Break!**

Amy Cahill walked into the Potions Dungeon. Smiling up at Professor Snape – a feat that few managed – she wondered what they would be doing today.

"I assume that you are more than pleased that Mr. Kabra has decided not to remain for the holidays?" Snape smirked for a brief moment. "Today, we will be exploring another aspect of Occlumency – distraction. As you may know, most Occlumency appears as a wall, guarding one's mind. There is a way to make it into a proverbial maze, complete with obstacles. You simply imagine your shield in greater detail, visualizing every aspect you wish it to have. While this may sound easy, it is in reality very difficult to do. It requires a medium amount of power, though that amount increases as the complexity of your shield rises." He rolled his eyes. "Unless I am mistaken, Mr. Kabra either does not know of this technique or cannot form a maze."

Amy nodded and sat down, clearing her mind. She now saw her shield, encircling her mind like a wall of jade. Pausing for a moment, she decided that for now, at least, a maze was to complicated. Instead, she twisted and pulled the magic into a mirror, then spread the reflective surface along the jade. As she thought her plan through, she slightly enlarged the mirror, pulling it up a few inches from the jade. Running through her memories, she pulled a few harmless ones and squeezed them into the space between her two shields. She put memories of primary school, and Aunt Beatrice, and a few of Dan being annoying. She added in her memories of a Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff quidditch match, and of her first Charms lesson. As an afterthought, she added in the memory of her hexing Draco Malfoy on the Hogwarts Express.

Delving deeper into her mind, she suddenly came up against a block. It was glowing gray, and seemed to be pulsing. Examining it thoroughly, she found a tiny crack in the bottom. Amy took a deep breath and gathered her power. She threw it at the little crack, trying to widen it. Instead, the gray orb absorbed some of her power and deflected the rest. Ramming her power at it again had the same affect. After a few more tries, she gave up and reentered her consciousness.

Amy glanced up at Professor Snape. "Sir? I modified my shields, but when I looked through the rest of my mind, I found something strange."

He frowned. "Miss Cahill, I am afraid that I cannot understand it if it is simply described as 'strange.'"

Amy hid a small smile. "Well, there was another sort of shield, but it wasn't one that I'd made. It was glowing gray, and pulsing. Do you know what it is?"

Professor Snape's frown deepened. "I am not certain. I will have to do some research on the subject."

Amy nodded and stood up, glancing at the clock. "I should probably get back to my common room." Snape nodded and dismissed her. As she raced up to the Gryffindor Common room, she suddenly became aware of the gray shield again. Her subconsciousness zoomed in on the crack, and she thought that she saw something leaking out.

_Smoke. Wet grass on her legs, many people shouting. Fire._

Amy blinked. What was that? It reminded her of… the Boggart. That strange flash of memory. They matched up! But why couldn't she remember…

Everything clicked into place. It made sense. The odd absence of memory before the fire, the brief flashes, her boggart.

_Memory charms_.

Amy froze in astonishment. Who had placed a memory charm on her, and why? And who was–

"_Obliviate_."

**Now that I've remembered, I'd like to apologize for the page breaks in the first two chapters. I'm doing my best to fix them.**

**Keep reading, and please review! CC is welcome.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! I'm sorry about the delay. I've hit a block, so this is actually only a half-chapter. Of course, it contains so much plot that it's almost tangible, and at least half of that plot is unplanned. **

**So much for planning stuff in advance.**

As Amy stepped through the portrait hole, she had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something. As she walked over to Harry and Neville, she tried to recall what she had forgotten. "Hey, guys?" she asked hesitantly. "Do either of you have a remembrall?"

Both boys glanced at each other, then gave her a strange look. "Yeah," Neville finally said. "I'll go get it."

Harry lowered his voice to a whisper. "Amy, are you okay?"

Amy nodded confusedly. "Yeah, I just have this–"

"Nagging feeling that you're forgetting something?" Harry cut in. "You were coming back from your lesson with Snape, and suddenly you couldn't remember what you'd been thinking about?"

"How… how did you…"

"Amy, this is the fifth time that this has happened in five weeks."

Amy turned white. "What? But… how come I can't… remember? If someone… That's it! Someone's erasing my memory! But… how?"

Harry glanced around cautiously. "I don't know. I just know that by this time tomorrow, you won't remember that we had this conversation. Someone's erasing your memory. We at least know that it wasn't a Gryffindor, otherwise Neville and I probably wouldn't remember, either."

"Whatever it is, it's related to the thing that you're not going to tell them until Ron and Hermione get back." Neville had returned.

"How do you know about that?" Amy glanced at Harry. Had he told Neville?

"I'm sorry, Amy, but after the third time or so, Neville was getting curious." Harry said apologetically. "I told him that you were going to tell us your 'big secret' once they got back."

Amy nodded, then sighed. "Might as well tell you two now, then. It's a rather complicated story…"

Harry and Neville listened in fascination as Amy told what she knew of the five founders, the branches, and the clues. She told them about the other six, and explained her lessons with Snape and Dumbledore. After a brief hesitation, Amy told them about her Boggart.

"Wow," Neville finally said. "That's a lot to take in."

Amy nodded tiredly. "And I have a feeling that there's more that I'm missing. Neville, can I see your remembrall?"

"If it's anything like the other times, it's going to turn bright red the minute you touch it," Harry muttered.

Amy took the remembrall, and it immediately turned a deep, swirling crimson color.

"Well, that was unexpected," Harry murmured after a couple seconds of silence.

"Hey, that's a really strange color for a remembrall." Oliver Wood, the Quidditch Captain, walked over. "The darker and more intense the color, the more you've forgotten. It only works on things part-forgotten, though. It won't work for complete memory charms." Completely ignoring the glances that the three were giving each other, he continued on. "Amy, could I talk to you for a minute?"

She nodded. Noting the suspicious glances Harry and Neville were giving Wood, she quietly reassured them. "I'll be fine," She whispered. "It's not a Lion, remember." Just in case, though, she slipped her wand into her hand as she followed Oliver out the portrait hole.

The minute the door shut, he whipped out his wand and started muttering a string of complicated Latin. Before Amy knew what she was doing, she had put up a shield charm.

Wood blinked. "You're fast. Don't worry, I'm just checking for listening spells and tracking charms."

Amy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I just–"

"Overreacted? No problem, I've done it a few times meself." As Oliver finished the spell, a number of silver and golden threads seemed to spring from Amy. "The gold are listening charms, the silver are the trackers." He blushed as he realized that one of the golden threads was leading to him. "Uh, may I remove them?"

"Go ahead," Amy said, nodding. "But why would someone want to listen in to me, or to track me?"

As he removed the last of the spells, he stared at her in amazement. "You don't know? You're _Grace Cahill_'s granddaughter. Grace the Branchless."

"You mean you're–"

"A Cahill? O' course. Now, come on. We need to get to either Professor Lupin or Dumbledore before your crazy stalker memory eraser realizes that his tracker is down."

As they ran down the hallways, Oliver slowly explained. "At least half of the Gryffindors are Tomas. There are also a few Ekats, but I'm a Tomas. Here's where it gets complicated." He paused for a minute. "There are five different types of Tomas in Gryffindor. There are the so-called 'loyal' Tomas, the ones who both know about the Branches _and_ follow the Tomas leader. There are the rebellious Tomas – we know about the branches, but think that our leader is an idiot and ruining the Branch. I'm in that group." He glanced at Amy. "I think that your friend Hamilton might be interested in joining us. There are also Tomas who don't know about the branch, but their families vary with loyalty. The last group are the Tomas who just want to stay as far away from the Hunt as possible."

Amy nodded. "Okay, that makes sense. But why are you helping me?"

Wood glanced at her. "Considering how few outsiders know about them, the Marauders are surprisingly famous. What the outsiders don't know is that James Potter was gathering people who weren't loyal to their respective branches. The four – three, actually – main Marauders were just the ringleaders. Black and the rest of his family were Lucian, Professor Lupin is an Ekat, and Pettigrew was… sorry, is… Janus. I guess that's how he tricked them."

"So let me get this straight. The Marauders were Cahills. That means that Harry's a Cahill. Do you know what branch?" Amy pressed.

"No, sorry." Oliver shook his head. "Back to main topic. The Marauders were a much wider organization than anyone could have ever thought. In fact, they're still going on today." He flashed a grin at her.

Amy grinned back. "Who else is in this organization? I assume that you are?"

Wood nodded. "Aye. I'm the 'head' of the Tomas sector. That reminds me…" they slowed to a halt in the middle of the corridor. "Expecto Patronum! Ced, Amy's been memory charmed. Taking her to the Room." A silvery bear burst from his wand, then ran off towards Hufflepuff Tower. "Cedric Diggory is another of those mysterious branchless people, like you. He's currently in charge of the Marauders." Glancing around, he muttered a curse. "I hope that nobody catches us. It would be rather hard to explain. Not all of the teachers support us."

"I wish that I'd brought the Map," Amy murmured. "It would make everything so much simpler!"

"Map?" Oliver stared at her in amazement. "As in, the Marauder's Map?"

"How do you know about it?"

"It's a relic! A legacy of the original Marauders! You've actually found it?"

"Well, Fred and George Weasley found it, then gave it to Harry so he could sneak out to Hogsmeade."

"Those two." Wood shook his head. "Anyway, we're here. Seventh floor, right in front of Barnabas the Barmy. The Room of Require–"

"Stupefy!" a voice shouted. "Stupefy, Obliviate!"

Amy's shield went up just in time, but as the first curse hit it, her shield shuddered and broke, in time for the second and third curses to hid Oliver. "Protego!" She shouted again, but apparently her opponent had decided that two curses were the way to go, and she could only watch, like a deer in the headlights, as the red stunning spell traveled towards her…

"_PROTEGO MAXIMUS!_"

A solid white shield expanded in front of her, deflecting the spell moments before it would have hit. She turned to see a sixth-year Hufflepuff running towards her. "Cedric Diggory, hi, nice to meet you, follow me." He grabbed Wood and carried him through the door that had just appeared behind her.

As she followed him into the room, she heard the distinct sound of a shield shattering, and heard one last shout of "Obliviate!" before the curse hit her in her back and she couldn't remember a thing.

**Page break!**

Amy was suddenly being pulled into a room. She had no idea where she was, or how she'd gotten there. The last thing she remembered, she'd been walking down the hallway to the Gryffindor Common Room, having just finished her weekly meeting with professor Snape, where she'd learned how to improve her Occlumency defenses, but found nothing odd. She did, however, have a nagging feeling that something had happened.

Especially since she had just seemingly appeared up here with no warning. Glancing around, she saw two boys: Oliver Wood, the seventh-year quidditch captain, and a Hufflepuff who looked to be in sixth year.

"Amy, are you all right?" the Hufflepuff asked.

"Er… yeah. Sorry, but, um… who are you? Where am I? Why am I here? How did I get here?"

He stared at her in confusion, then hit his forehead against the wall that had conveniently sprung up out of nowhere. "He got you didn't he?" seeing Amy's further confusion, he elaborated. "Whoever was attacking you. He must have hit you with an Obliviate spell. They erase memories."

Something in her mind dinged when he named the spell. "Obliviate…" she murmured. "Sounds familiar. Now, who are you? The last thing I remember, I was walking back to the Common Room from the Potions dungeon."

"Just let me wake Oliver up. Ennervate."

Wood appeared to come to with a jolt. "What? Where am I? Ced? What's going on? Why is Amy here?"

Cedric growled in annoyance. "Whoever it was got both of you. It was an Obliviate spell. I was just about to go to sleep when you Patronus-messaged me, saying that Amy had been Memory Charmed and that you were taking her here. I figured that you might need backup." He looked directly at Oliver. "Ollie, can I scan your mind for blocks?"

Wood nodded, and Amy could almost see Cedric going into his mind. A minute later, Cedric pulled out. "There's a block there. It's really faint, hard to find, I don't think I can break it. This was done by someone with a lot of practice. But now that I know what it looks like…" He trailed off, walking over to Amy. "May I scan your mind? I know that you don't know me very well, but…"

Amy hesitated for a second, then nodded. Lowering her shields, she felt Cedric softly ease his way into her mind, and then…

She felt another force in her mind, a shield that she hadn't put up. It expelled Cedric and sent him flying halfway across the room, landing where the Room had provided a few cushions. "What was that?" he gasped.

"I don't know!" She ran over to him. "Are you okay? I thought that I'd lowered my shields!"

Cedric stood up and brushed himself off. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me. And you had lowered your shields. This was someone else." He looked at Oliver. "We need Snape."

Oliver groaned. "But he's a greasy git!"

Amy was tired of people insulting Snape. "He's also my Occlumency, Legilimency, and Advanced Potions teacher." She snapped. "Now would somebody explain where we are?"

"You go get him," Cedric sighed. "And maybe Professors Lupin, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, too. I'll explain things to her. Remember not to use the front exit."

Oliver grumbled, but he went out a door that mysteriously appeared off to their side.

Once the door vanished, Oliver looked at Amy. "You know about the four branches. What do you think happens to the people who don't want to blindly follow the leaders? Amy, welcome to the Headquarters of The Marauders!"

"The marauders?" Amy asked. "Moony, Wormtail (stupid traitor), Padfoot, and Prongs?"

"How do you know about them?" Cedric asked in astonishment.

"Well, for one, Harry has their Map."

"_Harry has the Marauder's Map?_"

Amy grinned at him. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Cedric grinned wildly back. "Amy, would you mind if I called a Marauder's Meeting? It wouldn't be anything big, just inviting the Heads for each branch, and some of the teachers?"

Amy nodded. "Go ahead. Also, I don't know if Neville's a Cahill, but can we bring Harry and Hamilton in on this? Oliver said that Hamilton might want to join." Wait. Where had _that_ come from?

"When did he say that?" Cedric frowned. "Unless… Amy, do you think that memory charm is weakening?"

"Maybe," Amy said slowly. "I don't know. It just sort of popped into my head."

Cedric squinted at her. "Hm. Okay, I'll ask them to bring your friends." He fished in his pocket, then pulled out a fake Knut. He tapped it three times with his wand. "Branch Heads and teachers, meeting now. Bring Harry Potter and Hamilton Holt. Code Red."

Seconds later, two Slytherins walked in, closely followed by a Ravenclaw. As they all sat down at a round table that had mysteriously appeared in the center of the room. Professor Flitwick walked in a moment later, followed by Oliver, Snape, McGonagall, Lupin, and Dumbledore. Finally, Katie Bell burst in, closely followed by a very confused Harry and Hamilton. "Hey, everyone!" The Gryffindor girl smiled. "I know that I'm not supposed to be here, but Ollie wasn't in the common room, so I brought them."

Cedric shrugged. "It's fine. More familiar faces might actually ease the confusion, and we need every bit of magic we can get." He turned to glance at the students. "You know the drill. Since this is a meeting with the teachers, I'm not in charge. Professors?"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Be that as it may, Cedric, I think that you are the best at explaining our situation to new members."

"Okay." Cedric took a deep breath. "Hamilton, have you ever heard of the Marauders?"

**Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter, and again, review, review REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've had a bit of writer's block, due in part to there being a LOT of snow where I am right now. :D Ski season has come early this year!**

**And in light of the Black Book of Buried Secrets (it's acronym is BBOBS, which I shorten to Bob ****) coming out, this is… well, it was already an AU, but now it's that much more AU. Suffice to say that some of the information in Bob isn't compliant with this.**

Sirius stared blankly up at the ceiling, absentmindedly wondering which member of the ministry had declared him insane. Six more months in St. Mungo's was insane.

"Mr. Black? You have visitors."

Harry and Amy were visiting today, he remembered. Sirius sat up. "Harry?"

But it wasn't Harry. It was a tall, pale man with gray eyes and dark brown hair.

"Sirius?"

"_Regulus?_ What are you doing here? Aren't you dead?" his tone came out abrupt.

"Do I look dead to you?" Regulus asked.

"I guess not. Weren't you off following the Dork Lord, or something similar?" Sirius glared at his brother. "Or did you decide to follow the Branch?"

Regulus winced. "Neither. Siri, I… I came to apologize. And explain things. A few months before Riddle fell–"

"Riddle?"

"Tom Riddle. The Dark Lord's real name. Anyway, a few months before that Halloween, I'd realized that something was off."

"What was your first clue?"

"Ha ha. Anyway, I went to Hope Cahill for help, for obvious reasons. She helped me research, and we realized some things. He's darker than anyone thought. I had to fake my death to escape." He hesitated.

"Reg? what aren't you telling me?" Sirius looked at his little brother, wondering what could be worse.

"He's not dead."

"And?"

"He's coming back."

"And?"

"He's effectively immortal."

As Sirius opened his mouth to curse, there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" he called, annoyed. His annoyance, however, quickly dissipated.

A boy and a girl had come in. The boy had messy black hair and emerald green eyes. The girl had long reddish-brown hair and jade green eyes, though the eyes were looking towards the floor in shyness.

"Harry?" Sirius whispered hoarsely, staring at the boy in wonder. His godson. The godson who he had not seen in twelve years, one of the few people who had kept him sane in Azkaban.

If he had looked, he would have seen Regulus looking at the girl in very much the same way.

**Page Break!**

"Come in!" A man's voice called. Amy assumed that it was Sirius Black, but she didn't think on that very much. She was too busy trying to calm her nerves. While she could be confident, she still felt incredibly shy when meeting new people. As she and Harry walked into the room, she glanced down at her feet.

"Harry?" she heard Sirius whisper hoarsely. A moment later, she heard Harry run to the hospital bed to hug Sirius. Amy hesitated, not wanting to intrude on their moment.

But then another voice spoke. "Tisiphone bless. Amy?"

Amy's gaze shot up, her eyes widening in surprise at the familiar voice. She had heard it before, but she couldn't remember where or when. _Why couldn't she remember…_

And then she met Regulus's gray eyes and screamed in pain.

_She was three, and Uncle Reggie was bouncing her up and down on his knee…_ oh, merlin, her head hurt…_ she was five, and she, Uncle Regulus, and Daddy were playing tag, and Mommy was holding baby Dan…_ she was clutching her head, trying to stop the pain emerging from deep inside her skull… _she was seven, and Uncle Reggie was teaching her how to ride a broomstick, but she didn't like the height…_ And Amy opened her eyes.

"… only managed to get in for a second, but there was a disintegrating Memory Charm and too many complete ones to count. It looked like whenever she started to get even part-way through the memory charm, they obliviated her again. Not very smart of them, actually…"

Amy tuned the Healer's voice out and tried to concentrate on opening her eyes. She finally forced them open, and blinked at the harsh white. She was… in a bed? In a hospital bed! She sat up.

"Amy! You're awake! Are you all right?" Harry rushed to her bedside.

"What happened?" Amy mumbled. "Did I faint?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I was just talking with Sirius, and you suddenly went all funny and – screamed."

Amy smiled weakly. "Can I… talk to Uncle- um, can I talk to Regulus?"

Harry nodded. "I'll go get him."

Harry returned a moment later, Regulus following behind him. They watched as a Healer began questioning Amy.

"Have you ever had the nagging feeling that you're forgetting something?"

"I… think so," Amy murmured. "Th-that sounds r-right."

"When was the last time you experienced this feeling?"

"Uh… last night. Or n-now, I don't know. We w-were… doing s-something?" She frowned. "Wait a m-minute, I don't r-remember last night at all. What h-happened?"

"You don't remember what we did last night?" Harry asked, shocked. "But that means that whoever's erasing your memory got you again! That makes six that we _know_ about!"

The Healer frowned. "That's very strange. Miss Cahill, may I have permission to examine your mind?"

"No, you may not." Regulus cut across. "I would also advise not reporting what you have learned to Bae Oh, like you were originally planning to do."

"R-Regulus B-Black!" the Healer gasped. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Regulus sighed. "Why is that the first question that everyone asks me?" he glared at the Healer. "Now, I suggest going to get Andromeda Black, who is Amy's assigned healer. And not mention a word of this to the Ekat leadership."

As the Healer ran away in a panic, Regulus sat down next to Amy. "Amy? How are you doing?"

Amy frowned. "I don't know. Er, sorry, but until roughly five minutes ago, I had no clue who you were, and still don't, not really."

Regulus frowned. "I know. You have a dissolving memory charm covering up most of the first seven years of your life. You also have dozens, if not hundreds, of minor memory charms to cover up the gaps. As the healer said, not very smart of whoever's doing this."

"Why not?"

"Because the small memory charms only cover up the memory of you finding out about the leak. They don't cover up the actual leak."

Amy nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. Do we know who's doing them?"

Regulus shook his head. "All we know that there are three different people. One did the seven-year cover, and two others, apparently less experienced, have done all the recent cover-ups. Also…"

"Also?"

"You have something in your mind known as a mind-leech. It alerts whoever put it there to certain thoughts or memories coming to the surface." Regulus grimaced. "It's apparently been there for around seven years."

"Seven years…" Amy whispered. "The fire…"

"Regulus Black!"

Regulus jumped and winced, a scared look on his face. "Aunt Andy! Um, hi."

The woman who had just come into the ward glared at him. "Regulus, how DARE you fake your death without getting me to help! Killed by inferi, honestly. Do you expect me to believe that the inferi didn't make you an inferius, too? You're lucky I checked for your corpse myself first, and then stopped anyone else from searching for it."

"Sorry, Aunt 'Dromeda. I promise I'll let you know next time." Regulus mumbled.

"And you had better!" she gave a glare scarily reminiscent of Molly Weasley in one of her bad moods. "Now, what's wrong with Amy?" she turned to the girl.

Amy stared at her, gobsmacked. "Um, I…"

Andromeda smiled at her gently. "My name's Andromeda Black. The last time I saw you, you were only a year old. I don't expect you to remember me."

"She wouldn't anyway," Harry muttered.

Andromeda's head snapped towards him. "What's that? Can't remember things?"

"Memory charms," Regulus explained. "Lots of memory charms, a mind leech, and what looked like an internal shield."

"Well, I can remove the shield and the mind-leech easily enough," Andromeda murmured. "The memory charms are a little more complicated. May I scan your mind?"

Amy glanced towards Regulus. She didn't have many memories of him, but she somehow had an innate sense of trust for him.

"Aunt Andy's fine," he reassured her. "She's just going to remove the shield and the leech."

"G-go ahead," Amy murmured to Andromeda. She lowered her shields, and almost immediately felt something enter her mind. It took all of her willpower to not automatically push her out, though somehow she managed it. Andromeda slowly withdrew.

The woman looked downright murderous. "I was able to remove the shield easily enough, but what I found behind it was even more disturbing. The leech has existed long enough for it to be difficult to remove. You have at least a hundred memory blocks, all centered around the first one. And that's not all."

"What else is there?" Amy's voice came out weak. It was one thing to know that she had some memory charms done to her, another thing to know how many.

"You appear to have some sort of a block on your power. I can't tell what kind, or what, exactly, it's restricting, but it's there. It appears to be blocking of some sort of special ability."

Regulus nodded thoughtfully. "Artie was an elemental. Doesn't that run in families? Don't most childhood blocks last till the child turns twelve?"

Andromeda considered it, then nodded. "It could most definitely be a childhood block. Especially if you are an elemental." She sighed in relief. "That's one less thing to worry about. But I'm going to need some preparations to extract the mind leech. Do you want to go talk to Sirius for a while?"

Amy nodded and slowly climbed out of bed. She was still feeling a little tired. She was mostly silent as they walked down the hall to Sirius's room, and only asked one question. "You said that they did a diagnostic on me? What, _exactly_, did they find?"

Professor Lupin looked hesitant, but Regulus answered her. "Multitudes of memory charms. Those will take a long time to fully remove. They found the power block, which will probably dissolve when you turn twelve. The mind leech, which will be taken care of soon. The shield, which we've dealt with. To top that, they found that you have a smaller magical core than most wizards and witches."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"It's not that much to worry about. It only means that your spells will be slightly lower in power, and that you'll have more difficulty completing them. It's actually fairly common in elementals." Regulus assured.

Amy frowned. "Explain to me again what an elemental is?"

"In this case," Professor Lupin explained, "An elemental is someone who can control a certain element. Not element as in the periodic table, element as in fire, water, earth, or air. Of course, there are also things like ice and plants, but those four are the most common. Arthur was…" he turned to Regulus.

"Earth elemental," Reggie supplied. "he could control earth, stone, and a few naturally occurring metals, like iron."

Lupin nodded. "I've always found fire elementals fascinating. They can manipulate fire, and are immune to getting burnt or any other heat-related injury. A few really powerful ones are even able to conjure fiendfyre, then have _full control_ over it. Normal wizards can only start it, and only one in ten can stop it, let alone exert any kind of control."

"I don't like fire," Amy admitted. "Ever since… that night."

"Oh, I apologize," Lupin said quickly. "I hadn't meant to bring up bad memories."

_It's alright,_ Amy thought, annoyed. _I don't have that many anyway._

She looked up as they entered Sirius's room. He appeared to have fallen asleep. Regulus rolled his eyes and went to go wake him up, but Professor Lupin gestured him back. Regulus tilted his head to the side in a silent question: _What?_

The professor raised his wand as an explanation. Regulus understood.

"I didn't know that someone could do an evil laugh silently," Harry whispered to Amy.

Lupin conjured a bucket, then quietly filled it with water. Carefully levitating it over Sirius's head, he made sure not to spill any of it. With a quick spin of his wand, he flipped it over, dumping the water all over Sirius, who spluttered awake.

"What… moony… water… gah!" Amy and Harry doubled over in giggles while Sirius scowled at Lupin. "You're lucky they haven't given me my wand back yet!"

Remus grinned at Sirius. "Like that time you 'got me back' in sixth year?"

"Which time was that?"

"Just after the Spaghetti Noodle Incident."

Sirius glared at him again. "I got really good at getting people back since then!"

"Suuure, Padfoot."

In an attempt to divert the situation, he directed his attention to Harry. "Harry! How are you?"

Harry grinned – and held up a camera that Regulus had slipped to him.

Sirius decided that he didn't like Harry's grin. He quickly tried to change the topic. "So, someone explain to me why Amy collapsed?"

Amy glanced at Regulus. "You explain," she whispered.

Regulus sighed. "Years ago, before… before Hope and Artie died, I spent a lot of time at their house, playing with Amy and Dan. It seems that _someone_," he sent a special look as Sirius, making Amy wonder if he knew who did it, "had cast a powerful memory charm on Amy, and a number of smaller ones. When Amy saw me, bits of her memory came free. It seems to be a fairly painful process, and as you saw, Amy fainted. When she woke up, it seemed like part of the memory charm had broken. Aunt Andy managed to get rid of some sort of shield preventing Amy's mind from being read, but the other memory charms and some sort of mind leech that helped whoever it was get past her Occlumency shield."

Sirius shook his head and sighed. "Well, that's depressing."

"Of course it is," Harry pointed out. "But we should try to enjoy ourselves, and not be so… serious."

Sirius, Harry, and Amy burst out laughing. Regulus only shook his head. "Now we'll never be able to stop the 'sirius/serious' jokes," he muttered. "Honestly, they got old before I even came to Hogwarts."

"That doesn't stop them from being funny," Sirius pointed out. "I was halfway through fifth year before people stopped laughing."

"But even then it was only James and a few others," Lupin pointed out. "And the only reason that Trixie laughed was because she wanted to kill you."

"Trixie?" Harry asked.

"Bellatrix Black – though she's Lestrange now, isn't she?" Sirius replied. "She's in Azkaban."

Amy shuddered. "So, um… I heard that you were pranksters when you were in school?"

The next hour was filled with lots of laughter as Sirius and Remus told them all about their many school pranks, and they learned all about the infamous Spaghetti Noodle Incident.  
"Should we tell Fred and George?" Amy whispered to Harry.

Harry debated it for a second. "If we get them to promise to let us help in the recreation."

Remus cautiously looked at the two students. "Please don't do it this year," he almost begged them. "At least wait until next year before you have the Spaghetti War Two."

Harry sighed, but Amy shook her head. "No! you get to be on one team, and Harry and I can be on the other."

Remus nodded in resignation. "Fine, but I get Sirius."

"We get Fred and George!" Harry countered.

"I get Ravenclaw," Remus said, mock-glaring at them.

"Hufflepuff and Gryffindor," Amy quickly put in.

"Aw, but that's unfair," Sirius whined. "We get the teachers on our side, then!"

"And Slytherin," Remus put in.

Harry grinned. "Deal?"

"Deal!"

A sigh was heard from the door, and everyone turned to see Andromeda standing there. "Planning the Spaghetti Noodle Incident Two?" she chuckled. "Poor Hogwarts. Anyway, all of the equipment is set up. We're almost ready. Can you follow me?"

Amy nodded, nervous again. "S-so, what's going to happen?"

Andromeda smiled reassuringly, but Amy thought that she looked a little nervous. "I need to go into your mind and carefully remove the mind leech, but since I can't remove the memory charms without extra precaution, I'll have to cover everything today up with another memory charm." She sighed in resignation. "Then, in a few months, you'll come back under the pretense of a magical check-up, and we can remove the memory charms."

"O-okay." They walked into a quiet room.

"You just need to lie down and relax, and lower your shields. I'll do the rest."

Amy lay down and closed her eyes, carefully lowering her shields. She felt Andromeda enter her mind, a calm, soothing presence. Andromeda 'felt' around Amy's mind, not viewing any memories, but looking for things that didn't belong. Andromeda eased around a certain patch of wrong-ness, and when Amy looked at it carefully, she could see a faint line leading away. Andromeda's mind slid around the wrong-ness, enclosing it and separating it from Amy's mind. All of a sudden, both Andromeda and the wrong-ness were gone, out of Amy's mind. Amy also withdrew, opening her eyes. "Was that it?" she asked, surprised. "I thought that it would take a lot longer…" she glanced at the clock. "An _hour?_"

"Things always take longer than they seem to," Andromeda explained. "It's something about the way magic works. Now, I'm afraid, I have to perform the memory charm. I sent an owl to Grace, so that she knows what happened, so don't worry. You'll be just fine."

"O-okay." Amy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "G-go ahead."

**Page Break!**

Hours later, at the end of her shift, Andy Tonks sat down in her office and burst into tears, hiding the blackmail note under a stack of parchment.

**Ooh… blackmail. First year is actually almost over, so review, review, REVIEW! I hope to have the next chapter out soon.**


	6. Author's Note

**Hey, everybody.**

**I'm really, really, really, **_**really**_** sorry that I haven't updated in forever. The next chapter is **_**almost**_** finished.**

**It would be finished except for a minor mishap. This past week, I was in New Zealand. If you haven't heard, there was a major earthquake in New Zealand.**

**My computer happens to be in a hotel that might currently collapse. I was extremely lucky to be out of the city that day. There is a death count of over 100 people. **

**I promise that the next chapter will be up within a week if I have to stay up until midnight to finish it.**

**Thanks for being so patient,**

**Miranda**


	7. Chapter 6

**I am so sorry this took so long! But it's here now, so…**

**I don't own anything except the awful plot.**

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned around to see the Weasley Clan run through the barrier. "Hurry up, Ron!" she scolded. "We're going to miss the train!"

"Been there, done that," Ron muttered. "How was your break?"

"It was _amazing,_" Hermione gushed. "My parents surprised me by taking a trip to Egypt. We got to see the Pyramids, and the Sphinx, and the Nile! I learned so much!" In truth, her parents had also shown her the secret Ekat stronghold. She had been fascinated by all of the inventions by her relatives, but also sickened by the destruction caused. Light bulb? Good. Atomic Bomb? Bad. Very bad.

But Bae Oh didn't seem to care. In fact, he seemed to like it.

"Hermione. Snap out of it."

She blinked. Ron was waving his hand in front of her face.

"You were telling me about the different types of dust in Egypt," he reminded her.

"For your information, Ronald, there are many different types of _sand_." She paused for a moment, her mind drifting to the many different concentrations of minerals. "And I was actually talking about the Sphinx."

"Yeah, it's weird the way it's nose is missing," Ron commented as they sat down in their compartment.

Hermione gaped at him.

"What?" he demanded.

"You – you _know_ something about Egypt?" she gaped.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Of course I do, Hermione. I went there over the summer, remember?"

"Oh, yes. I'd forgotten." Hermione momentarily paused, then continued. "And the murals in the tombs of the Pharaohs were amazing. They had so many colors! And the Hieroglyphs! Did you know that the Ancient Egyptians didn't use parchment, but they used papyrus? It's still used for powerful magical workings, because parchment comes from animals, so it has just a bit more innate magic! But that little bit is still enough to upset certain workings…"

Ron's eyes were starting to get a little glassy. A few more minutes of talking, and he looked ready to fall asleep. Soon, he _was_ asleep.

Hermione smiled, satisfied. Now she could read in peace, without him interrupting her every five minutes.

**Page Break!**

"Mum! Dad! I'm home!" Nymphadora Tonks shouted. She was almost done with her third and final year of Auror training, and she still lived with her parents.

"Dora!" Ted Tonks grinned at his daughter. "Your Mum's still at work, apparently had a minor emergency."

"Aww." Dora sighed. "What are you doing?"

"Straightening up your mother's desk. It's gotten messy."

"Can I help?"

"Sure."

Dora started sorting papers. _Let's see… spare parchment, spare parchment, spare parchment… muggle x-ray, blood analysis, diagnosis… more spare parchment… why does Mum have this much spare parchment?_

Something slipped out of a stack of parchment, and Dora bent down to pick it up. It was some sort of letter. She glanced at the broken wax seal. It was red, and had some sort of Celtic two-headed snake emblem, with a sword through the middle.

_Oh, no._

Dora had seen that crest only a few times before, but she recognized it instantly. It was the crest of the Lucian Branch, considered by most to be the scariest branch ever (except for the Madrigals, of course). But Dora had been told that their offshoot of the Black family had broken off all ties with the Cahills. So why were they writing to her Mum?

She hesitated, then opened the envelope.

_Andromeda – _

_If Amy Cahill comes to you with memory loss, you will obliviate her so that she knows nothing of the Cahills, or of memory charms. If she remembers, we will see just how protected your husband and daughter are. It would be a great pity if your daughter does not live to complete her final year of Auror training._

_Do not cross us._

_We are watching._

–_IK_

Dora felt dizzy. Her mum had treated an American patient named Amy Cahill two weeks ago. "Dad?" she called hesitantly. "I think that you should see this."

"What is it?"

"It's… Well, here."

Dora watched her father's face change from shock to worry to anger. "What was the name of that cousin your mother mentioned?" he asked quietly. "The one not at St. Mungo's?"

"Uh, I think it was Regulus," Dora said hesitantly. "But he's with Sirius most of the time."

Ted sighed. "Okay. Grab your wand, let's go to St. Mungo's."

"To visit Mum?"

"To visit your cousins. You know that I have no experience with this Cahill stuff," he explained. "The Blacks would be able to deal with it better than I would."

Dora nodded, then walked over to the floo. "Saint Mungo's!" she shouted. A minute later, she stumbled out of the fireplace and tripped over someone's foot, triggering a domino effect. Her father exited the floo to find half of the people in the lobby on the floor, rubbing whichever body part they had landed on.

"Oops," Dora said, embarrassed.

**Page Break!**

Sirius was glad that Regulus was alive. It meant that he didn't go insane with nobody to talk to.

Of course, there were times when Regulus wasn't there, and he felt like he really _was_ going insane.

Regulus was one of his only visitors. Harry had promised to visit once a month, but other than that, nobody came to talk to him.

So he was reasonably surprised when Ted and Dora Tonks appeared in his doorway.

He grinned and gestured to the chairs in his room. "Sit down… Ted, right? And Dora."

Dora scowled. "It's Tonks, Sirius."

"Whatever," He said nonchalantly. "What brings you here?"

Ted shifted uncomfortably. "Mr. Black–"

"Sirius," Sirius interrupted. "Mr. Black reminds me of all of those stuffy pureblood titles."

Ted relaxed a bit. "Sirius, You're a Lucian, right?"

Sirius froze, then nodded slightly. He turned his attention to Tonks. "Aunt Andy taught you privacy wards, right?" he asked.

Tonks nodded, then cast the spell, stopping eavesdroppers from listening in.

Sirius sighed. "I assume that there's some reason why this topic came up?"

"Yes…" Ted said hesitantly. "I found something on Andy's desk this afternoon. It was… well, see for yourself." He handed the note to Sirius.

Sirius's face darkened as he read the note. "Blackmail," he said, spitting out the word as if it had a bitter flavor.

"Technically," Tonks pointed out, "It's emotional blackmail. Straight-out blackmail would be threatening to reveal information."

Sirius shot a dirty look at her. "Whatever." He sighed and looked back at the letter. "Even worse, it looks like these orders are from the first-in-charge Cobra."

"First?" Ted asked. "I thought that she was the second."

"Technically, it's a joint leadership," Sirius explained. "But Isabel's slightly more dangerous than Vikram. They'll both kill you," he elaborated, "But Vikram will just kill you from behind, after gloating a bit, of course."

"And Isabel?"

Sirius winced. "I'd say that I wouldn't wish her on my worst enemy," he said, "But she _is_ one of my worst enemies. That said, it would be ridiculously funny to see her and Moldyshorts duel it out."

"We're off topic," Tonks reminded them. "What can we do about this?"

"Well…" Sirius thought for a moment. "I can only think of one thing to do." He reached into a small bag on his bed-side table, pulling a small hand-held mirror out of it. He tapped it once with his wand. "Regulus!"

**Page Break!**

Severus frowned as he looked at his favorite student. And then glared at one of the other Gryffindors who was goggling at them. Honestly, he wasn't being _that_ less strict than usual, was he?

He was jolted out of his thoughts as he saw Holt add something – a small piece of salamander skin – to his and Amy's cauldron. But when added to a half-done acne curing potion, salamander skin…

BOOM!

…exploded. Half of the room was able to duck under their desks, but the other half got hit with a half-made acne cure, making them break out in pimples. He cursed in his mind. Stupid Tomas! Why hadn't Amy stopped him from adding the extra ingredient? "Everyone who has been hit come to my desk for a cure!" he called out over the pandemonium. The students slowly calmed down and lined up to be healed. Strangely enough, Severus noted, the Holt boy was not among them. Almost as if he knew what was about to happen…

**Page Break!**

"Did you get it?" Hamilton whispered to Amy.

She nodded back. "Yeah," she said quietly. "The potion should be done in three days."

Hamilton nodded. "I'll tell the trio."

With Ron and Hermione back, Amy and Hamilton had grown closer, being allowed to spend time in class together. They referred to each other jokingly as 'The Golden Trio' and 'The Silver Duo,' or just the Trio and the Duo.

Later that day, during lunch, Harry came over with Ron and Hermione. They sat down next to Amy and Hamilton. "Three days?" Harry asked.

Amy nodded. "I need to add in the crushed jobberknoll feathers this evening, then let it simmer for two and a half days. After that, it'll be ready for drinking, after cooling for at least forty-five minutes."

"And Snape didn't catch you?" Hermione asked.

Hamilton rolled his eyes. "No, Hermione. If he had, would we be able to add in the feather stuff?"

"It's not feather stuff!" Amy and Hermione scolded in unison. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Anyway," Amy continued, "It should be ready in three days. Provided nothing goes wrong."

_That evening…_

Amy stirred precisely 1.8 grams of jobberknoll feathers into the potion. Now it was supposed to turn transparent purple and slowly fade to light blue over the course of two and a half days. But something was going wrong. The potion was turning lime green and bubbling. Amy's eyes widened and she started backing up. "Get under cover!" she called back to the others, running towards them. When they had begun the experiment, they had constructed a potions-proof 'blast wall,' just in case. "It's going to explode!" Amy ducked behind the blast barrier seconds before the cauldron exploded.

Once everything was quiet again, Amy turned to Hamilton. "You idiot!" she scolded him. "I said _jobberknoll_ feathers, not _augury_ feathers! Now we'll have to start from scratch!"

"Or not," remarked another voice from the doorway.

Amy froze and turned around, seeing the others' faces become horrified. "Uh-oh," she whispered.

Professor Snape had an angry expression on his face. "What, exactly," he said calmly. "Are you doing here?"

Amy looked at Harry.

Harry looked at Amy.

"You explain!" Amy whispered.

"You're the one who brewed the potion!" Harry told her quietly.

"But it was your idea in the first place!"

"Hermione came up with it!"

Hermione glared at them, then looked at Professor Snape. "We were brewing a potion?" she half-asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Granger, I can see that. What I want to know is what potion you were brewing, and why you felt the need to do it in secret?"

Hermione bit her lip and looked at the others. "Well… it's not exactly on the curriculum?"

Snape glared at them. "And…?"

Amy looked up at him innocently. "It wasn't supposed to explode?"

Snape sighed and closed his eyes. "Nyx grant me patience. Miss Cahill?"

"Yes?"

"Explain. Now."

Amy looked down. "W-well, we were brewing a potion that would tell us if we had any memory blocks. The… Menimis Draught. But Hamilton gave me Augury feathers instead of the Jobberknoll feathers that we needed, so the potion exploded."

"And why were you brewing this potion?"

Amy looked at the others. "Harry?"

Harry glared at her half-heartedly. "Well, we realized that our versions of the visit to St. Mungo's didn't quite match up, and Amy mentioned something about not remembering certain times, about fifteen minute clumps, over the course of the past few weeks. So Hermione started researching different potions that could tell us if someone had erased our memories. This one seemed like the easiest, so… we decided to try and brew it. But it sort of blew up."

"Fifty points from Gryffindor, and a detention," Snape said, though he looked thoughtful.

"But–" Ron protested.

Hermione kicked him.

"The headmaster wants to see you," the potions master continued. "I believe that it is something to do with this same visit to the hospital that keeps causing problems." He surveyed the wreckage from the explosion, most of which was coated in congealing green goop. "Your detention will be served cleaning this up, but for now, follow me."

The five walked quietly behind him to Dumbledore's office, the only noise being Ron and Hermione's whispered argument.

"-why do you just-"

"-it's not unfair, Ronald, he's gotten better-"

"-but he still-"

Amy saw Hamilton glare at them. "Don't interfere," she whispered. "They'll just get mad at you."

Finally, they arrived at the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. Ron and Hermione had stopped talking to each other.

"Pepper Imps," Professor Snape said quietly, and the gargoyle moved aside so that the five students and one professor could enter the Headmaster's Office. As they entered, Amy saw that there were three people standing near Dumbledore. Two of them – one of whom had spiky pink hair – were unfamiliar. The third was familiar from somewhere… Amy just couldn't place him in her mind.

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled at them, his eyes twinkling. "Ah, hello. May I introduce Ted and Nymphadora-"

"Headmaster, how many times to I have to tell you that I hate that name?" Nymphadora scowled. "It's Tonks."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be referred to by her surname only," The headmaster continued blithely. "And, of course, you know Regulus."

Amy blinked, confused. "I do?"

The other man – Regulus – looked slightly shocked, but then resigned. "We were… introduced at the Hospital," he explained. "What do you remember of it?"

She frowned. "We went to St. Mungo's with Professor Lupin, and talked with Sirius about the Spaghetti War Incident, and I met his older cousin, Andy Tonks…" she trailed off. "I don't remember actually leaving Sirius's room while we were there, but I remember being in a different room, and being introduced to her."

"That would signify either a novice obliviator or someone working against their own will," Professor Snape mused.

"And we are fairly certain that it is the latter," Dumbledore assured him. "Nymphadora–"

"Tonks."

"Tonks, will you floo your mother now?"

The pink-haired woman, Tonks, started walking over to the fireplace before tripping, falling flat on her face. As the others started forward, concerned, she sat up. "I'm okay, I do that all the time," she explained to the five. Kneeling by the floo, she tossed some powder in and shouted, "Andromeda Tonks, Saint Mungo's!" She stuck her head into the now-green flames, and they could hear snippets of a conversation. "… end of your shift… they have other healers, too… come on, _please?_" Tonks finally pulled her head from the fireplace, grinning. "She's coming in five minutes, she has to wrap a few things up."

Dumbledore beamed. "Ah, good. That gives us time to explain things. Regulus, if you would?"

Regulus sighed. "Okay, to put it bluntly, Amy, you've been Obliviated."

"… that actually makes sense," Amy finally said. "It's one of the most common memory-changing spells."

He looked at her in surprise. "You did research on this?"

Harry nodded. "Once we realized that someone had changed our memories, Hermione and Amy did lots of research about those spells. We were making a potion–" he stopped abruptly, then glanced at Amy.

"Well, Snape already knows," she murmured. "It can't hurt to tell."

"Okay. We were brewing a potion that would show if our memories had been changed, but it exploded a few minutes ago."

Dumbledore smiled brightly. "Ah, yes, the Menimis Draught? A very complicated potion, Miss Cahill. Especially for a first year."

Regulus nodded in agreement. "Anyway, you've been being periodically obliviated for most of the year, mainly to cover up the fact that you've been obliviated of most of the first seven years of your life. When you went to St. Mungo's to meet Sirius, you also met me, and the original charm broke a little bit. You met Andy Tonks when you discovered the Memory Charms, and she fixed some other meddling that had been done to your head. She couldn't remove any of the memory charms immediately – usually it's very difficult. So she partially obliviated you herself, so that whoever was doing it wouldn't think to do it again. We were going to schedule an appointment to get it taken off, but…" he trailed off angrily. "The hospital 'lost the paperwork.' Meaning that someone with a lot of money or prestige wanted your memory partially erased."

"So Mrs. Tonks is going to remove some of the charms now?" Amy asked. "It's easier to remove a charm with the wand that cast it, right?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Hopefully, she'll be able to remove almost all of them. And here she comes," he said cheerfully as the fire once again turned green.

"Hello, Dora, Headmaster," Andy Tonks said, before doing a double-take and noticing all of the people in the office. She sighed in relief, then collapsed in a chair.

"Mum?" Tonks rushed over. "Are you okay?"

Andromeda smiled thinly. "Just exhausted, and relieved. I think. This is about what I think it's about, right?" she asked the headmaster.

"If it is about the threat you received a few weeks ago, then yes," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

"Good." Andy smiled apologetically at Amy. "I'm sorry that I couldn't remove the charm, they had me under a spell similar to the spell that the Unspeakables are under. I couldn't tell you unless you already knew."

Amy smiled shyly. "Could you…?"

"Remove the memory charm?" Andromeda stood up. "Certainly. However…" she looked around. "Perhaps we should move to the hospital wing?"

"An excellent idea," Dumbledore said, also rising and starting towards the door. "Madam Pomfrey will have our heads if we did not take proper medical procedure."

The diverse group walked down to the hospital wing, drawing many stares from the students. Amy noticed Ian Kabra, glaring at them as they passed. _And where does he tie in to all of this?_ Amy wondered. _He has something to do with this memory charm stuff, I bet. But what, exactly?_

Ian smirked at her, then blended into the crowd. Amy was suddenly reminded of the night a few months ago, when Hermione, Ron, Harry, and her had found that the others had followed them, disillusioned. She reminded herself to check for disillusioned people when they reached the hospital wing.

Lost in thought, she stumbled when one of the staircases began to move under her.

"Are you okay?" Regulus asked, worried.

"J-just lost in thought," Amy reassured him. "Why do the staircases move, anyway? They make it twice as difficult to get to where you're going."

Regulus shrugged. "Some headmaster back in the 1500s thought that it was a good idea," he replied.

Amy nodded, filing it away in her brain.

As the assorted group walked into the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "Who is it this time?" she asked, her eyes skimming over the adults to land on the children. "Mr. Potter?"

"Miss Cahill, actually," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Mrs. Tonks needs to remove some spells from her, and we were wondering if we could temporarily borrow the use of one of your beds."

She sniffed. "At least you didn't do it elsewhere," she mumbled. "Pulling all of those dangerous stunts, it's a wonder that the five of you aren't dead! The infirmary's empty now, you may use it."

Amy sat down on one of the beds, a little nervous. What if it went wrong? What if someone messed up? What if her mind got broken, or she went insane? What if –

Andromeda placed a hand on Amy's shoulder and Amy jumped. "Don't worry about what ifs," the healer whispered. "Relax."

Amy nodded and slowly breathed in and out, falling into a meditative state.

"Now, delve deeper into your mind. See your mindscape."

Amy fell into her mindscape. All of her memories were like little bubbles, floating around. She saw her occlumency shield – a jade green wall surrounding her mind.

"Look around for abnormalities. Find shields you haven't put there."

Amy stretched her consciousness around, looking for differences. She felt something brush against her senses, and brought it closer to her. It appeared to be a bubble, same as the rest, but it was surrounded in a opaque gray shield, so that Amy couldn't see through to the memory. "I think I found the block," she heard herself say distantly.

"Good. I'm going to remove the block that I placed on you. You should watch that memory play out when the block is removed. Memoria Dimittere."

Amy saw the gray shield peeling away, like a banana's skin peeled away. As soon as the last piece of the spell peeled off, the whole spell disappeared, and Amy was sucked into the memory. She watched as Dumbledore informed her of the Cahill family, as she went to the hospital and met Regulus for the first time, and how she had collapsed as the memory charm partially broke. "But there are still more memory charms," she said quietly. She could feel them at the edges of her mind.

"Which is why I'm going to teach you how to break them yourself," Andromeda said.

It felt like hours later when Amy came out of her half-trance. She had managed to break all of the memory charms, except for the first, and largest, block. She had also discovered some interesting memories.

_Amy was walking down a dark corridor, holding a book that she had borrowed from the library. It was late at night, just before curfew, and the torches on the walls gave the hallway an orange glow, filled with flickering shadows. Amy felt on edge. Small fires, like the torches, didn't bother her, but the lateness seemed to make the torchlight expand exponentially. It was as if she were walking through flickering embers. Amy sped up her pace, but tripped over a loose stone. The book fell from her arms and opened to the index. Amy bent down to pick it up. _M. Metamorphmagus, metronome spell, memory charms. _Memory charms. During her occlumency lesson, she had found a strange gray object floating around in her memories. Amy flipped to the page where the obliviation spell was described. Apparently, the spell had a light gray color, and was one of the most effective and easy memory charms. Its incantation was – _

"_Obliviate."_

_Amy gasped and rolled out of the spell's path. She scrambled to her feet. Ian Kabra stood behind her, pointing his wand at her. "Kabra? What–"_

"_There are certain things that we can't have you know," he interrupted her. "Somnius."_

_Amy recognized the incantation from one of her lessons with Dumbledore. It was a minor sleep spell. "Protego," she countered._

"_Obliviate."_

_Dodge. "Somnius."_

"_Locomotor mortis."_

_Shield. "Protego!" Amy tried again, but the spell broke her shield, and kept on going. _

"_Obliviate!"_

_Amy opened her eyes. Had she tripped? She must have hit her head. Where was her book? She blinked in confusion. She had a book? Amy's thoughts were all muddled. She put them out of her mind for a moment, and continued to her common room._

Amy pulled out of the memory. Most of the time, Kabra had done the memory charm. But other times, it had been Draco Malfoy. While Amy was meek and shy around strangers, and while she was not normally a vengeful girl, she decided that it was time she got some revenge.

**Argh. I felt like everyone was OOC. I'm sending out a request for a beta reader, mainly one for IC/OOCness and plot points, because spelling and grammar check works 98 percent of the time.**

**On a side note, I took down the prologue. Muse was right, it sucked.**


	8. Chapter 7

Amy stormed into the common room.

Amy never stormed. Ever. So it was understandable that when Amy walked into the common room with a furious expression on her face and the air practically crackling with tension, brave Gryffindors retreated. Every Gryffindor knew that every single person in their house had a temper, and when a normally shy and quiet person got angry, they got _angry_.

Amy looked at the scattering Gryffindors and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, then walked over to the Weasley twins. "I need your help with a prank."

Fred glanced at George. Ickle Ronniekins had just told them about what was going on with Amy after sprinting up from the hospital wing. Amy was practically family, even though she had only met just under half of the family. She and Harry acted like siblings, and Harry and Ron acted like siblings, so Amy was an honorary Weasley.

She even had red hair!

But aside from that, they rarely took suggestions. They rarely cooperated with others for pranks. And they never got bribed into pranking people.

"I'll brew potions for you for all of next year if you help me prank Kabra and Malfoy."

Fred and George found their opinions on pranking for bribes quickly changing.

"Deal," one of them said.

"But out of curiosity, why?" the other asked.

"Bloody gits Obliviated me," she said icily.

"Er, it might just be us–"

"–but isn't that illegal?"

Hermione walked up behind Amy.

"Politicians," Hermione explained. "The Kabra and Malfoy families are extremely powerful, politically speaking. To go against them in court would be insanity." She sighed. "Amy, can you transfigure a punching bag?"

Amy nodded and transfigured a bright red Gryffindor pillow into Kabra's face, then handed it to Hermione, who proceeded to punch it repeatedly. Once it was completely demolished, she turned back to the three redheads, looking a lot calmer. "By the way, I have a theory as to why Amy is so good at magic."

"Really? That's good–"

"– we were getting worried–"

"– that she was turning into a Mary Sue."

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at Amy again. "Well, I was thinking about that one big seven-year block, so while you were getting the charms removed, I looked in the library for some American magic laws. It turns out that there's a law where a child's parents can request to tutor a child not yet of school age in magic. However, the tutoring may only encompass a first year education, and–"

"Hermione," Harry interrupted, coming up behind her, "You're sounding like a dictionary."

Hermione blushed. "Sorry."

"So, I seem to know all of the spells already because I already do, subconsciously?" Amy asked.

Hermione nodded. "You'll probably be at a more normal level in your second year."

Fred and George decided that they were getting off topic. "So, did you–"

" – have a plan – "

" – or shall we come up with one?"

"Amy and I each had a few ideas," Harry said. "But here's the best one." He paused a moment, building the tension.

"Yes?" George said, slightly impatient.

"Who says it has to be only one prank?"

The twins looked gobsmacked for a moment, then got a look on their faces that would make any Slytherin run in terror. "What ideas do you have so far?"

Amy grinned. "Temporary complete tounge removal, random body parts turning random colors and random sizes at random times, being made a fool of in every single class…"

"… Hallucinations, making him sing a ridiculous song, speech, or other, just about anything humiliating enough," Harry finished.

One of the twins had begun writing everything down as the other twin added in suggestions and ideas, while Hermione worked on the spells and potions needed.

Kabra and Malfoy wouldn't know what hit them.

To make a victory even more successful, the twins realized they had finally corrupted Hermione, and exchanged an impromtu hi-five.

**Page Break!**

"AMY! AMY! AMYAMYAMYAMYAMY!"

Amy turned around and saw a small blur of little brother barrel into her. "Dan!" she grinned at the eight-year-old. "I missed you!"

Dan grinned back at Amy, then stared at the Hogwarts Express. "That's the Hogwarts Express? It's _bright red!_ Did you know that at Hogwarts, there's a forest? And they have _giant man-eating spiders_ there? Did you like Hogwarts? Did you meet anyone? Did you prank anyone? Did you get detention? I can't wait– "

Amy put her hand over Dan's mouth, then waved Harry over. "Harry, this is my little brother, Dan."

"Amy, you're speaking all funny! Why does everyone talk funny here? Did you see the giant spiders? What–"

Amy put her hand over Dan's mouth again.

Harry looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Hi, Dan. I'm Harry. So, you like spiders?"

Dan nodded vigorously.

"Well, my best friend Ron? The boy over there with red hair? He's terrified of spiders. So…" Harry bent over and whispered in Dan's ear.

Dan grinned, then ran off.

"Sorry, he's sort of insane," Amy said apologetically.

"Can't be any more crazy than Fred and George," Harry reasoned. "That last prank _still_ has Malfoy jumping every time he hears the word 'carrot.'"

They heard a dim shout of "SPIDERS!" over by where the Weasleys were.

Harry sighed and looked around. "I should probably go, the Dursleys will be waiting."

"Why do you have to stay with them, anyway?" Amy demanded.

"Because there's still another two and a half months before Sirius can get custody of me," Harry explained dejectedly. "Well… see you next year."

"I'll write," Amy promised.

As Harry walked back into the muggle world, Dan popped up next to Amy again. "Grace says we need to go now." He frowned. "But it's fun here!"

Amy felt her spirits lightening already, then realized who they would be going back to. "How's Beatrice been?" she asked Dan.

Dan, surprisingly, broke into a grin. "Didn't I tell you? We get to stay with Grace now! This is gonna be the best summer _ever!_"

**Page Break!**

_Harry,_

_How's your summer been? I hope the Dursleys haven't been too horrible. Dan and I don't have to live with Beatrice the Bloody any more, we get to stay with Grace now! She said us staying there had to do with keeping us safe and away from Cahill business, but now we're involved anyway. Have Ron and Hermione written you yet? Have you been writing to Sirius? Dan can't wait to come to Hogwarts and get in his fair share of pranking._

_-Amy_

_Amy,_

_The summer's actually been pretty calm. I told the Dursleys that my Godfather was just out of prison for murder (it's true!). They've left me alone, though I still do the cooking for them. You don't have to live with her any more? That's great! She doesn't sound quite as bad as Aunt Petunia, but still. How is it like living with Grace? It sounds brilliant. Hermione wrote me a short letter, but her parents have taken her to Japan for a few months, and it'll be a while before she has access to an owl. Ron wrote me a short letter. I was looking through one of those wizarding magazines that Hermione gave me, and I saw a few things that might make writing easier – two-way journals and mirrors, and something that looks like a wristwatch but acts like a telephone. Sirius owled me one of a set of mirrors that used to be my dad's – we can talk back and forth any time. Dan sounds like he would like Sirius. I can hardly wait another two months._

_-Harry_

_Harry,_

_Maybe we'll be able to get the journal in the fall. What you did to the Dursleys _was_ sort of mean, but they did deserve it. Living with Grace is amazing. She has a huge library, and dozens of really old artifacts. She caught Dan playing with this really old stone dagger last week, and instead of reprimanding him, she taught him how to hold it so he didn't get cut. It's too bad that Hermione has to go to France. I can't wait until my birthday – I don't know if I told you, it's on August Seventeenth. Are you doing anything for your birthday? _

_-Amy_

_Amy,_

_I bet that Hermione would go into Grace's library and try to live there for a few months before she even thought of coming out. Thanks for mentioning your birthday – I'll try to get you something. Are you coming back to England for the Quidditch World Cup? The Weasleys invited Hermione and I – they got top box seats! It's going to be Ireland vs. Bulgaria. I can't wait. They're picking me up in a few weeks, right after my birthday (July 31__st__.) Ireland has a really brilliant team, but Bulgaria has Viktor Krum – he's reportedly the best seeker in the world. Will you be there?_

_-Harry_

_Harry,_

_Of course I'll be there. Dan learned about Quidditch, and he hasn't stopped talking about it ever since. Grace got us top box seats, too! I heard that Krum is really good, but the rest of his team is only average. I can't wait – in the US, Quodpot is more popular than Quidditch. I'll see you in a week._

_-Amy_

_Ron,_

_I've been writing letters back and forth with Harry this summer, and I asked him a question about his birthday. He replied that you and your family were picking him up shortly after his birthday, but he didn't say anything about a party, even when I asked him outright if he were doing anything for his birthday. I'll be at the Quidditch World Cup with my family, and I was wondering if we could try to set up some sort of party for him. It doesn't sound like he's had many happy birthdays._

_-Amy_

_Amy,_

_I'll try to get Mum to put something together – she'll probably make him a three-layer cake._

_-Ron_

_Amy,_

_This probably won't reach you until you get here, but the Weasleys made an amazing entrance. They came by floo, except the Dursleys had an electric fireplace. Everyone got stuck in the chimney, then Mr. Weasley blasted the electric fire halfway across the room. Everyone was all awkward, even after he put the fireplace back (as a normal one, so we could floo out). Fred and George pranked Dudley! They left a toffee that made his tongue grow! Mr. Weasley said that it weighed nearly a tonne before he could put it back to normal. Mrs. Weasley scolded them, though. We've played a lot of pickup games at the Burrow (the Weasleys' home). Maybe you can play once you get here, after the World Cup. See you soon._

_-Harry_

**Well, there you have it! First year finally wrapped up. I really apologize for taking this long, but the school year's wrapping up, and I need to complete all of the homework that I missed while I was writing the first few chapters of this…**

**Hopefully the next chapter (and the start of the Triwizard Tournament) will be up soon.**

**Please, reviews keep me motivated, so review!**


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